Far-right terrorist takes guards hostage in German prison

BERLIN

A right-wing extremist, who was behind the 2019 Halle terror attack, took two prison guards hostage in Germany, but he was later overwhelmed by other guards, authorities said on Tuesday.

The incident occurred on Monday evening at a prison in Burg in the eastern Saxony-Anhalt state.

According to the Justice Ministry, the right-wing extremist Stephan Balliet took two staff members of the prison, but he was overpowered after a short time by other staff inside the prison.

Balliet was injured during the release of the hostages. The two freed staff members were reportedly not injured, but are in shock.

It is still unclear how the hostage situation came about.

Police had armed officers in position in front of the prison after the hostage-taking became known.

The State Criminal Investigation Office of Saxony-Anhalt has started investigations.

Balliet had initially tried at gunpoint to enter the city's synagogue in Halle on Oct. 9, 2019 to kill people having gathered there.

After he had failed in this, he shot a passer-by in front of the building and shortly afterwards a guest in the snack bar Kiez-Doner.

During the trial, it came out that he originally wanted to storm a mosque or a center of the anti-fascist Antifa group, because he believed they were less guarded. But, he said, he wanted to murder Jews as a priority because, in his view, they were behind Muslim immigration to Europe.

Balliet was sentenced in 2021 to life in prison with subsequent preventive detention for two murders and 68 attempted murders, among other charges.