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SWEDEN

German woman ‘can be jailed’

A German woman accused in Sweden of killing two children and trying to murder their mother is sane, said a psychiatric assessment published Thursday, paving the way for a prison sentence.

German woman 'can be jailed'

The Västmanland court said in August there was “convincing evidence” that 32-year-old Christine Schürrer was guilty of the crimes.

But it held off presenting its verdict until a psychiatric evaluation had been conducted to determine whether she should be sent to prison or a psychiatric hospital.

“Christine Schürrer does not suffer from a serious psychiatric disorder,” the evaluation found. Nor was she “under the influence of a serious psychiatric disorder when she committed the crimes for which she has been charged,” it added.

There was “therefore no medical reason to commit Christine Schürrer to psychiatric care.”

Schürrer has been charged with “using a hammer or a hammer-like object” to bludgeon to death a nearly four-year-old boy and his almost two-year-old sister on March 17th in the small Swedish town of Arboga. She has also been charged with attempting to kill their 23-year-old mother, Emma Jangestig.

Jangestig is the live-in companion of a man Schürrer once dated.

The prosecution argued during the trial that Schürrer “had not got over the split from (him), still had feelings for (him) and was hurt that (he) was living as a family with Emma Jangestig and her children.

Schürrer denied all wrongdoing during the trial, which dominated headlines in Sweden and Germany in August.

According to Swedish news agency TT, Schürrer refused to cooperate with doctors for the psychiatric evaluation.

The Västmanland court is scheduled to reconvene to discuss the case on October 8th.

The verdict could be announced on that date at the earliest, a court clerk told AFP on Thursday.

GERMANY

Germany cracks down on fake Covid vaccine documents

German police have set up a special team to fight a growing number of forged vaccine certificates being sold in the black market

Germany cracks down on fake Covid vaccine documents
People who are fully vaccinated can show their vaccination booklet, which has a stamp and a sticker inside. Photo: Ina FASSBENDER / AFP

Police in Cologne have warned of a group of fraudsters selling fake vaccination certificates, a growing problem the scale of which is still unclear.

The police said the fraudsters worked in encrypted Telegram chats, making investigations difficult, and were selling fake documents with all the stamps and signatures, including a mark about vaccination with BioNTech or AstraZeneca.

READ ALSO: Germany probes Covid-19 testing centres for fraud

The fraud involved both real traffic in fake documents as well as scams luring customers into paying €100.

People in Germany who are fully vaccinated can show their vaccination booklet, which has a stamp and a sticker inside. Those who don’t have a booklet get a piece of paper.

Covid health passes are currently being rolled out across the EU, with a European health passport expected to be available from mid-June.

READ ALSO: What’s the latest on how the EU’s ‘Covid passports’ will work for travellers?

Over 44% of the adult population in Germany has received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, and more than 18% of Germans have been fully vaccinated.

German police have said forged coronavirus vaccine documents are becoming an increasing problem.

Last month, a couple in Baden-Württemberg was accused of selling fake coronavirus vaccination certificates.

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