LOT Polish Airlines Flight 165 (1978)

LOT Polish Airlines Flight 165 was the target of a hijacking incident on 30 August 1978. The hijackers, originating from the German Democratic Republic (GDR), sought to escape to West Germany (FRG) by requesting political asylum. The aircraft landed without incident, and the main hijacker faced trial before a West German jury at the United States Court for Berlin, receiving a sentence equivalent to the nine months already spent in pretrial detention. This event remains unique as the sole case adjudicated by the United States Court for Berlin.

Background

Hans Detlef Alexander Tiede (also known as Detlev Tiede), a citizen of the GDR, along with Ingrid Ruske and her 12-year-old daughter, traveled to Poland intending to meet Ruske's West German partner, Horst Fischer. Fischer had arranged forged West German documents to facilitate their escape via ferry from Poland to Travemünde in West Germany. After waiting four days without any sign of Fischer, Ruske and Tiede inferred that he had likely been detained while passing through East Germany. This assumption proved accurate; Fischer was arrested and subsequently sentenced to eight years imprisonment in the GDR for preparing their Republikflucht ("desertion from the Republic"), an offense under East German law.Template:Fix/category

Recognizing that returning to East Germany would lead to incarceration, Ruske and Tiede devised a plan to hijack an aircraft destined for East Berlin's Schönefeld Airport and compel it to divert to the U.S. Air Force facility at Tempelhof Airport in West Berlin. To execute this, they purchased a toy starting pistol at a flea market in Poland and secured three tickets on LOT Polish Airlines Flight 165 flying from Gdańsk, Poland, to East Berlin.

Hijacking

On 30 August 1978, Tiede and Ruske seized control of a Polish LOT Tupolev Tu-134 aircraft carrying 62 passengers on Flight 165 from Gdańsk to East Berlin. Armed only with a toy starter pistol, Tiede took a flight attendant hostage and compelled the plane to divert and land at Tempelhof Airport in West Berlin.

Among the 62 passengers, 50 were citizens of the GDR, 10 were Polish nationals, alongside one man from Munich and a woman from West Berlin. Passengers were offered the choice to either stay in West Berlin or return to East Berlin. Besides Tiede, Ruske, and her daughter seeking refuge in West Berlin, seven additional East Germans also opted to remain: a radiology assistant from Erfurt, a couple with two children, and another couple from Leipzig. The radiology assistant returned to East Germany the following day. The other passengers underwent interviews before being transported back to East Berlin by bus.

Trial

The West German Federal Government declined to prosecute Tiede and Ruske, consistent with its policy endorsing East Germans' right to escape GDR oppression. Meanwhile, the United States government had successfully negotiated with the East German government for the signing of a hijacking treaty. As a result, the case was tried in the United States Court for Berlin, invoking charges under The Hague Convention as integrated into United States law, given that the aircraft landed on a US Air Force base.

US federal judge Herbert Jay Stern determined that the defendants were entitled to a trial by jury, as protected by the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution, a process abolished in Germany following the Emminger Reform of 1924. Charges against Ingrid Ruske were dropped because she had not been informed of her legal rights prior to confessing. Tiede was acquitted on several counts including hijacking and firearm possession but found guilty of hostage-taking. The jury convicted Tiede specifically for hostage-taking but acquitted him of offenses related to civil aviation safety, deprivation of liberty, and battery. The minimum penalty for hostage-taking was three years; however, Judge Stern sentenced Tiede to time served—approximately nine months spent in pretrial detention—considering his urgent circumstances and potential imprisonment in East Germany for attempted Republikflucht.

In popular culture

The 1984 publication authored by Judge Stern, titled Judgment in Berlin, was adapted into a film bearing the same title in 1988. In this movie, the role of Stern was portrayed by Martin Sheen.

See also

• Eastern Bloc emigration and defection
• Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial, an additional case involving judges from a judiciary outside the host country

Further reading

• Stern, Herbert Jay, Judgment in Berlin, Universe Books, New York, 1984.

External links

• Template:IMDb title