Patrick Schöbel is one of the prisoners who were released in the exchange with Russia. star He talks about his imprisonment, “Harry Potter” as reading material in his cell – and what he said to the Chancellor.
When Patrick Schöbel brings his bull terrier Django to his close confidante Judith, he says: Just for a few days. Schöbel wants to fly to Russia to meet a woman he met on the Internet in December 2023. A Russian. Then everything turns out completely differently. Schöbel, 38, a building technician from Hamburg, has been sitting in a Russian prison for more than half a year while he is on trial. He faces up to seven years in prison for drug smuggling. Last Thursday, Schöbel was surprisingly released along with 25 other prisoners as part of the prisoner exchange between Russia and several Western countries.
When Schöbel was released from the military hospital in Koblenz on Saturday afternoon, he went to see Judith in Hanover, where Schöbel grew up. She supported him over the months and he sent her letters from prison, in the tightest writing on squared paper, always signed: Your Patrick from the hell of St. Petersburg. The star meets both of them for a conversation at the kitchen table in her apartment.
On January 15, Patrick Schöbel flies from Hamburg to Istanbul and then via Antalya to Saint Petersburg. The plane lands at around two in the morning.
Mr Schöbel, what happened at the airport in Saint Petersburg?
I quickly put on a fresh T-shirt in the toilet and brushed my teeth. I was looking forward to the meeting, she had already written that she was waiting outside. I took my bag from the conveyor belt and went through the green exit at customs. I didn’t have anything to declare. So when a customs officer waved me out for inspection, I was completely relaxed. My luggage was x-rayed, then the very friendly officer asked me to unpack my backpack. The first thing I did was reach into the lid compartment and take out everything that was in it: visa, passport – and a bag with six gummy bears. And I thought: oh shit.
Source: Stern
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