A man was sentenced to three years in a German prison for stealing police weapons and escaping from prison in the forest, which sparked a massive manhunt.
The regional court in the southwestern city of Offenburg convicted Yves Rausch, 32, of illegal possession of weapons, resistance to arrest, serious bodily injury and hostage-taking.
The sentence was just under three years and nine months requested by the prosecution during the one-month trial.
Rausch, nicknamed “Rambo of the Black Forest”, was arrested in July near the city of Oppenau, on the border with France, after a six-day search that made national headlines.
He was found sitting in a bush with five guns and an ax and taken into custody. Rausch wounded an officer in the foot with the ax, rendering him permanently unable to work.
He fled to the forest after he managed to disarm four policemen, initiating a massive search operation. About 2,500 police officers searched the area with the help of special forces, helicopters, sniffer dogs and thermal imaging cameras.
Rausch’s case sparked media comparisons with 1980s action hero Rambo after photos of him appeared in the forest wearing combat clothes.
At the start of the trial on January 15, his lawyer read a statement from Rausch in which he admitted to escaping with police weapons, but said he had no intention of causing harm and just feared arrest.
“I am a person who loves freedom,” said the statement.
His lawyer contested the hostage-taking charge and asked for an 18-month suspended sentence.
The drama began when the police were informed of a suspicious man hanging around a cabin in the Black Forest. Four policemen sent to the scene said he cooperated at first, but suddenly threatened them with a gun and had them hand over the weapons before running away with them.
The police had said he could also be carrying a bow and arrow.
Oppenau’s chief prosecutor, Herwig Schaefer, described Rausch as a “gun fanatic” with a “great affinity for guns”.
Rausch has a long criminal record, including charges related to possession of illegal weapons, theft and personal injury.
He received a three-and-a-half-year youth sentence in 2010 after he shot an acquaintance with a crossbow, severely wounding it.
Police found child pornography on his cell phone while investigating him for explosives in 2019.
He also received an eight-month suspended sentence for inciting hatred when he was 15, after changing the letters on a youth organization’s plaque to read “Juden Weg”Or“ Jews are gone ”.
They said he also built a fake bomb and previously made anti-Semitic statements and used Nazi swastikas and SS symbols. Prosecutors at the trial, however, ruled out a political motive.