Nearly 30 years after he committed his crime, Dieter Krombach of Germany has been convicted and sentenced in France to 15 years in prison for killing his 14-year-old stepdaughter.

 

Krombach’s crime drew international attention, not so much for what he did, but for how he came to be tried in a French court. Having avoided one trial for the 1982 death of Kalinka Bamberski, the German physician was kidnapped by Russians hired by the girl’s father, André Bamberski, who wanted Krombach brought to justice. On October 18, 2009, Krombach was taken from his home in Germany, bound, gagged, driven across the border into France, and dumped on the street in front of a courthouse in Mulhouse.

 

In 1995 a French court tried Krombach in absentia for raping and murdering Bamberski, who was injected with iron cobalt to help her tan, plus other medications, prior to her death. An autopsy showed injuries to Kalinka’s genitals and other evidence of rape. However, a cause of death was not determined. Krombach was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 15 years in prison. But German officials refused to extradite the doctor.

 

In 1997, in a separate case, Krombach was convicted in Germany of sexually abusing a 16-year-old patient after giving her an anesthetic. The trial produced five other patients claiming he had drugged and raped them. Krombach was given a suspended sentence, but his license to practice medicine was revoked. In 2006, Krombach was convicted of practicing medicine without a license.

 

Bamberski himself is still facing kidnapping charges.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

German Doctor Kidnapped and Smuggled into France to Face Charge of Killing Young Girl on Holiday is Jailed for 15 Years (by Anthony Bond, Daily Mail)

German on Trial for Murder in France after Being Kidnapped by Victim’s Father (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)