Saxony-Anhalt
Halle assassin is Burg prison kidnapper
View of the walls of the Burg correctional facility. photo
© Jan Woitas/dpa-Zentralbild/dpa
A prisoner takes two prison officers into his power, he is eventually overpowered by other officers. Now it is clear: It is a well-known right-wing extremist.
The hostage-taker in the Burg prison near Magdeburg was the right-wing extremist Halle assassin Stephan Balliet. The 30-year-old was overpowered after less than an hour on Monday evening. The Ministry of Justice confirmed corresponding information from security circles.
Accordingly, around 9:00 p.m., the prisoner temporarily took control of two servants. The perpetrator was overpowered by other correctional officers inside the prison, it said.
Ballet was injured. According to the information, the employees were not physically injured, but are being cared for. The exact background of the crime is still unclear. This includes how exactly the prisoner was able to capture the servants. The hostage-taking prompted a large-scale police operation. The officers had taken up positions in front of the prison, heavily armed. The State Criminal Police Office is investigating in prison.
Largest and most modern high-security prison in Saxony-Anhalt
The Halle assassin was sentenced to life imprisonment and subsequent preventive detention on December 21, 2020. He is serving his sentence in Burg prison. It is the largest and most modern high-security prison in Saxony-Anhalt.
Balliet is considered an uncooperative and difficult prisoner. On the Pentecost weekend of 2020, as a defendant in the Halle trial, he tried to escape from Halle JVA. During a yard walk, he climbed a 12-foot fence and spent five minutes unsupervised looking for a way out of prison before court officials caught him again.
The act of October 9, 2019
On October 9, 2019, the right-wing extremist assassin tried to storm the synagogue in Halle on Yom Kippur, the highest Jewish holiday, and to cause a massacre. He threw incendiary and explosive devices and shot at the access door.
When he was unable to get onto the premises, he murdered a 40-year-old passer-by in front of the synagogue and a 20-year-old in a nearby kebab shop. He injured other people while fleeing.
According to the Ministry of Justice, the prison in Burg, not far from Autobahn 2, has 637 places in closed prisons, and 18 places are also reserved for preventive detention.