2 German prison staff taken captive by 2019 synagogue attacker
The right-wing extremist, Stephan Balliet, convicted for carrying out the deadly 2019 attack on a synagogue in Halle, Germany, briefly held two prison employees hostage.
The convict was injured as he was overpowered by other staff inside the facility near Magdeburg.
Balliet had taken two staff members’ hostage at around 9 pm on Monday evening for about one hour, the Justice Ministry confirmed on Tuesday.
The staff members held hostage were not injured, it said.
It was initially unclear why Balliet was able to take the two employees hostage at the prison in Burg, located to the north-east of the city of Magdeburg.
The incident triggered a large police operation.
Investigations led by the State Criminal Office are under way inside the prison.
On October 9, 2019, on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, Balliet tried to force his way into a synagogue in the eastern city of Halle,when the door held, he shot dead two people and injured two others as he fled.
However, he confessed to have carried out the attack, he was convicted and given a life sentence in 2020.
He is serving his sentence in a modern high-security facility in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, some 100 kilometres west of Berlin.
The right-wing extremist is said to be an uncooperative and difficult inmate.(dpa/NAN)
