The Higher Regional Court of Munich said that there was no threat that Wohlleben, 43, would disappear from the watch of authorities once he was let out from behind bars. He left the Stadelheim prison in Munich on Wednesday morning, according to a spokesperson.

His arrest warrant was lifted on Tuesday, following a previous request of his defence attorney. According to a spokesman, the court does not know of Wohlleben’s exact whereabouts following his release.

Wohlleben was sentenced to ten years behind bars only last week after having already served six years and eight months before and during his trial. But following as assessment of the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Karlsruhe, the court deemed that it was no longer necessary for him to remain in prison.

Wohlleben was convicted in the NSU trial for having obtained a Ceska pistol which the NSU terrorists Uwe Böhnhardt and Uwe Mundlos used to shoot dead nine Turkish and Greek-born immigrants.

The Federal Prosecutor accused Wohlleben, a former spokesperson of the far-right NPD political party, of knowing the reason why the right-wing terrorists wanted to acquire the weapon – which Wohlleben had always denied.

Following a five-year long trial last Wednesday, Beate Zschäpe – a former lover of both Böhnhardt and Mundlos – was found guilty of 10 counts of murder, including of a German policewoman, through her complicity and was handed a life sentence in prison.