A man has been sentenced to three years in a German prison for theft of police rifles and evading arrest in the woods, which has resulted in a major chase.
The regional court in the south-western city of Offenburg found Yves Rausch (32) guilty of illegal possession of weapons, resistance to arrest, serious bodily harm and hostage-taking.
The sentence was just under the three years and nine months that the prosecution requested during the month-long trial.
Rausch, nicknamed the “Black Forest Rambo”, was arrested near the city of Oppenau on the French border in July after a six-day search that found national headlines.
He was found in a forest with five rifles and an ax and arrested. Rausch wounded one officer in the foot with the ax, which permanently prevented him from working.
He fled into the forest after he managed to disarm four police officers, causing a huge investigation operation. About 2,500 officers combed the area using special forces, helicopters, sniffer dogs and thermal imaging cameras.
Rausch’s case caused media comparisons with action hero Rambo from the 1980s, after photos of him dressed in the woods in a combat suit.
At the start of the trial on January 15, his lawyer read out a statement from Rausch in which he admitted that he had finished with the officers’ weapons, but said he had done no harm and was simply caught.
“I am a person who loves freedom,” the statement said.
His lawyer disputed the charge against hostages and asked for a suspended sentence of 18 months.
The drama began when police were informed about a suspicious man hanging in a hut in the Black Forest. Four officers sent to the scene said he cooperated at first, but then suddenly threatened them with a gun and had to surrender their weapons before running away with them.
Police earlier said he may also be carrying a bow and arrow.
Oppenau’s chief prosecutor, Herwig Schaefer, described Rausch as a ‘gun freak’ with ‘a great love of guns’.
Rausch has a long criminal record, including charges related to possession of illegal weapons, theft and bodily injury.
He received a three-and-a-half-year juvenile sentence in 2010 after shooting an acquaintance with a crossbow and seriously injuring her.
Police found child pornography on his cellphone while investigating him for possession of explosives in 2019.
He also received an eight-month suspended sentence for inciting hatred when he was 15 after changing the letters on a board for a youth organization, so that it reads:Jews awayOr “Jews are gone.”
They said he also built a fake bomb and had previously made anti-Semitic statements and used Nazi swastikas and SS symbols. Prosecutors at the trial, however, ruled out a political motive.