Sasa Stojanovic: German Police Release New Photo

German police released a new photo today, August 31, of a man who escaped from prison the day before, and are asking the public not to approach him. He is a 35 year old Serbian man who got out of his cell at Duisburg-Hamborn prison in a way that until now looked like something out of a movie.

Kurir reports that the escaped inmate’s surname is Stojanovic. Telegraf identifies him in its report only as Sasa D. Along with the photo, German police released a description: he is 175 centimeters tall, weighs 75 kilograms, has a slim build and a high forehead. At the time of the escape he had short brown hair, and he has a tattoo of a woman’s face on his right upper arm. According to the police statement, he also uses false identities.

In brief

• The escape happened early Sunday morning, when he cut through the bars on his third-floor cell window
• He climbed onto the roof via the building’s facade, then got down on the outside in a manner investigators have not yet determined
• After the escape, a hidden compartment was found beneath the floor of his cell, where he had kept his tools

How he pulled off the escape

Duisburg-Hamborn prison sits in the Hamborn district of Duisburg, in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Both outlets report that the escape happened early Sunday morning. Telegraf puts the time at around 3:20 am, while Kurir says around 3 am.

The inmate was held in a cell on the third floor. He removed a bar from the window overlooking the inner courtyard, then used the cell’s table as a lever to pry away the fine protective mesh behind it. According to both papers, he squeezed through the narrow opening he had created, then climbed up the building’s inner facade to the roof. From there, Telegraf reports, he got down on the outside of the prison perimeter in a way investigators have not yet determined.

A search of the cell after the escape turned up a hiding place he had built under the floor, beneath the linoleum covering. Reports say it had gone unnoticed during earlier cell checks. Investigators have not found the tool he used to cut through the bars, either in the hideaway or elsewhere in the cell.

A spokesperson for the Justice Ministry of North Rhine-Westphalia addressed the lapses that made the escape possible in comments to the German newspaper Bild.

Why this hiding place went unnoticed during cell inspections, and how the tool he used to cut through the prison bars got into the prison, is now the subject of an investigation.

According to the German outlet NTV, as cited by Telegraf, the Justice Ministry called the escape completely unacceptable and has opened an investigation into the security failures at the prison.

Why he was in custody

The escaped man was arrested on February 10, 2026, on a warrant issued over suspected burglaries, and had been held in pretrial detention at Duisburg-Hamborn ever since. In late May he was sentenced to six years in prison for two aggravated burglaries. That verdict was not yet final. According to judicial sources cited by both outlets, jewelry and more than 200,000 euros in cash were taken from the burgled homes.

The prison he escaped from opened in 1912 as a court prison. It was expanded in 1967 and thoroughly renovated in 1995. It is now used for sentences of up to two years and for pretrial detention, after the prison’s outlying units in Oberhausen and Duisburg-Mitte were closed.

Along with the new photo, German police issued a direct appeal to the public, noting that he is considered a dangerous offender.

Anyone who sees the man or has information is asked not to approach him, but to notify police immediately.

The appeal is part of a statement from police in Duisburg. More than a day and a half after the escape, the search for the missing Serbian man continues, and his current whereabouts remain unknown.