In a sentence dated 14 October 2024, a Court in Berlin found German citizen Manfred Naumann, a former operative officer of the East German Security Service (Stasi), guilty of the murder of Polish citizen Czesław Kukuczka on 29 March 1974 at the railroad border crossing between East Germany and West Berlin, and sentenced him to 10 years' imprisonment for the act.

Manfred Naumann,a former Stasi officer, -was a suspect in the investigation conducted by the Branch Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation in Poznań. It was suspected that on 29 March 1974, acting to prevent the crossing of the state border between East Germany and West Berlin at the Friedrichstrasse railroad border crossing, he had shot a Polish citizen Czesław Kukuczka in the back, causing severe injuries to the victim's internal organs and, as a consequence, his death.

According to the findings made by the Prosecutor of the Branch Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation in Poznań, on the critical day Czeslaw Kukuczka appeared in the building of the Polish Embassy in East Berlin, where, pretending to be in possession of an explosive and threatening to use it, he attempted to obtain permission to enter West Berlin. The Security Service officer in charge of the Polish Embassy,a resident of Department I of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, -notified the East German Security Service of the situation. The decision was made to “neutralize the Polish citizen outside the building of the Polish People's Republic Embassy if possible. Stasi functionaries assumed that leaving the GDR by Czesław Kukuczka was not an option, and in order to prevent this it might become necessary to use firearms, of which the resident of Department I of the Ministry of Internal Affairs at the Polish Embassy was informed.

In order to make it seem as if victim's request was going to be fulfilled, Stasi officers arrived at the Polish Embassy in East Berlin, where they issued the documents necessary to cross the border into West Berlin, after which they and Czeslaw Kukuczka left the Polish Embassy, then headed by car towards the border crossing located at the station on Friedrichstrasse.

At the border crossing, Czeslaw Kukuczka was allowed to proceed towards West Berlin after arranging a “clearance”. As Czeslaw Kukuczka headed towards the subway tunnel, an ununiformed Stasi officer, Manfred Naumann, fired a shot into the victim's back from a distance of about 2 meters. The severely wounded Czeslaw Kukuczka was then taken to hospital, where he died as a result of his injuries.

After the incident, Stasi officers drew up a report on the , “thwarted terrorist attack,” in which they stated that Czeslaw Kukuczka, while checking in at the Friedrichstrasse border crossing, had unexpectedly pulled a firearm from his coat pocket and had pointed it at uniformed border guards and other people at the border crossing. At that point, one of the officers, in order to protect the lives and health of those in danger, had fired a shot at the attacker with his service weapon. This description was edited to justify the use of a firearm and the killing.

During the talks held immediately after the incident by representatives of the People's Republic of Poland and the GDR, the Polish side insisted on accepting the scenario according to which Czesław Kukuczka's death was a result of suicide, and the corpse was to be found in a state of decomposition in a forest near Berlin, which would allow , “avoiding any questions” in Poland. However, the East German authorities, for procedural reasons, did not agree to such a solution, presenting the case in official documents as “elimination of an armed assailant”. The Stasi officers involved in this , “thwarting of a terrorist attack,” were subsequently awarded high state medals. The officer who shot Czeslaw Kukuczka was awarded the Bronze Order of Merit in Struggles for the People and the Fatherland with the justification that he  “neutralized a terrorist using a firearm,” while his superiors emphasized in their official opinions that he frequently “proves his loyalty to the Party and state leaders, and is guided by the class struggle when making decisions.”

The findings made in the course of the investigation of the Branch Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation in Poznań unquestionably showed that a trap had been set for Czesław Kukuczka by the East German security service, with the advance assumption that he would be prevented from leaving East Berlin even at the cost of his life. The perpetrator fired the fatal shot viciously, without warning, into the victim's back, in a way that anticipated his death and in a situation where the victim posed no threat. Czeslaw Kukuczka did not in fact possess any explosives, he was shot secretly when he had already left the East Berlin area, and in order to give his actions the appearance of legality, the East German authorities used mystification by posing the fact that he had possessed a firearm with which he had allegedly threatened border guards.

Thus, the actions of Stasi functionaries were aimed at preventing Czeslaw Kukuczka from crossing the border at any cost, in violation of elementary human rights and in the name of realizing the political objectives of the totalitarian state. This act was in fact an execution carried out without a court sentence.

The evidence gathered in the investigation provided the basis for the Prosecutor of the Branch Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation in Poznań to apply to the District Court in Poznań for the issuance of a European Arrest Warrant against the suspect, as Manfred Naumann resided in Germany.

The District Court in Poznań granted the Prosecutor's request and issued a European Arrest Warrant for the suspect Manfred Naumann. The warrant was then forwarded to the German side with a request to execute it and hand the suspect Manfred Naumann over to the Polish justice system.

However, the Berlin Regional Court refused to execute the European Arrest Warrant, arguing, among other things, that Manfred Naumann is a German citizen and the case of the crime he committed should be heard by a German court. Such a position meant that, despite the fact that the case of Czesław Kukuczka's murder had been twice discontinued by the Berlin Prosecutor's Office, the investigation was then resumed and, based, among other things, on the findings and evidence gathered by the IPN Prosecutor, an indictment was eventually filed against Manfred Naumann.