German taxpayers to cover 195,000 euro cost for Ansbach attacker's repatriation

German taxpayers are expected to bear approximately 195,000 euros in costs following the repatriation of Georg R., the perpetrator of the 2009 Ansbach school attack. Georg R., who was serving an indefinite sentence in a psychiatric clinic in Erlangen, escaped during an unsupervised outing in August 2025 and fled to Colombia.

After an international manhunt, authorities located and detained him in Colombia. Due to security concerns, officials deemed commercial flights unsuitable and chartered a private aircraft to return him to Germany.

The Ansbach Public Prosecutor's Office confirmed that there is no legal basis to reclaim these costs from the perpetrator. A review revealed that a 2010 ruling by the Ansbach District Court had effectively excluded the imposition of legal and procedural costs on him, preventing the state from seeking reimbursement.