Kurt Hättasch, a 25-year-old master craftsman, father of young children with national-conservative sympathies and local politician for the AfD, experienced in the night of 5 November 2024 the ultimate nightmare in what is assumed to be a free, democratic society.
His home was stormed by armed police. Powerful searchlights pierced through the windows, red laser dots from weapon sights danced across his chest. Outside something resembling explosions could be heard.
– What kind of society is left to save?
In a state of shock and based on a rational assumption that he was besieged by militant socialists with a penchant for fascist methods – Antifa – he called the police emergency number 110. But while he was in telephone contact with the emergency centre, he was shot by those who were supposed to protect him: the police.
Hättasch was hit in the lower jaw, which was shattered. A projectile lodged in his shoulder. He survived after several hours of emergency surgery. After being shot, he was arrested and placed in pre-trial detention, where he has been held for a year and a half.
When Hättasch was stabilised, the authorities presented an explanation that was to conceal that the police had done their best to kill a man who was in the process of alerting them that he was under attack and that he feared for his life.
Kurt Hättasch
The authorities claimed that it concerned a terrorist threat.
The authorities’ explanation of what happened has since stood as a symbol of cynical politicised administration of justice: «Hättasch had tripped over a stick». That was the explanation delivered to a man who had just been attempted killed by the police.
Since that fateful November morning Hättasch has been in pre-trial detention. In his prison cell he has written the book «Fangschuß. Notizen aus der U-Haft» – «Fatal Shot. Notes from Pre-Trial Detention» – a raw and unvarnished depiction of the time behind bars. He describes the physical pain, the chronic breathing problems after being shot, the isolation and the psychological terror of being separated from his wife and daughter – a daughter who still wonders why daddy «cannot go for a walk with her».
📕 Brandneu: "Fangschuss – Notizen aus der U-Haft", das Buch zum Skandalprozess gegen die "Sächsischen Separatisten"
Seit über anderthalb Jahren in Untersuchungshaft, seit einem halben Jahr vor dem Oberlandesgericht: Die Justiz-Farce gegen die angeblichen "Sächsischen… pic.twitter.com/EOsm4vS3P6
— FREIE SACHSEN (@freiesachsen_) July 8, 2026
Hättasch dissects the charges against himself; «a constructed web of old chat messages, speculations and unclear accusations». His lawyer, Dubravko Mandic, calls in the book’s afterword the case «a textbook example of the emergence of an «enemy criminal law» (Feindstrafrecht) where one is not judged for actions, but for who one is and what political positions one holds»:
Terror concepts are inflated, terrorism is defined according to political convenience, patriotic resistance is equated with violent organisations. Through state media a narrative is created long before the court cases begin, which makes fair justice impossible. Trust in the rule of law is eroded by a state that uses military methods against its own citizens if they hold dissenting political positions.
One may wonder: If the state is allowed to shoot a political dissident in his own home to «save society», what kind of society is it then that one is saving?