A far-right extremist who was jailed for life for a deadly 2019 attack on a synagogue in Germany has briefly held two guards hostage during an attempted prison break.
Stephan Balliet, 30, reportedly took two employees hostage at the Burg Correctional Facility near the city of Magdeburg, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany on Monday, 12th December.
The incident took place at around 9pm inside the detention centre and lasted for approximately an hour.
It began after Balliet used a device to force the two prison guards to take him out of his cell, according to state officials.
The convict was reportedly trying to escape after he was sentenced to life in 2020, but was quickly overwhelmed by other guards and sent back to his cell.
This was reportedly not his first escape attempt, as he tried to evade another prison while he was still on trial in 2020.
He then reportedly climbed over a 3.40-metre-tall (11-feet-tall) fence and spent several minutes searching for a way out of the facility before he was finally caught by guards.
Germany’s Ministry of Justice reported in a statement issued on Tuesday (13th December) that the staff members held hostage were not injured.
They refused to describe the device Balliet was using due to the investigation which is still in progress.
Following the incident, Balliet was put in a special security cell in the prison which is under continual surveillance.
Saxony-Anhalt’s state minister for justice Franziska Wiedinger stated that he may soon be transferred to another high-security prison.
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said: “This worries me, of course.
“This calls on those who are responsible for prisons in Germany to take another very close look.
“Especially with someone like the assassin from Halle, who we know already tried to escape during the trial, there needs to be special attention.”
Balliet was sentenced to life on 21st December, 2020, after he attacked the synagogue in the city of Halle, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, on 9th October 2019.
The attack occurred on Yom Kippur, which is considered the holiest day in Judaism and Samaritanism.
At the time of the attack, he was reportedly armed with several firearms and explosives, which he used to kill a 40-year-old passer-by and a 20-year-old man inside a kebab place after he failed to enter the synagogue.
The attack is considered to be one of the most violent and openly antisemitic acts in postwar German history.
