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Teen in court for holding two boys as ‘slaves’

A 17-year-old German teen faced a court on Thursday for holding two boys like slaves in the attic above his parents‘ apartment and forcing them to steal for him.

Published: 24 February 2011 15:11 CET

Teen in court for holding two boys as 'slaves'

File image of an attic. Photo: DPA

The teenager was charged with false imprisonment and fraud in the Düsseldorf youth court, which remained closed to the public.

Some 18 witnesses were called in the case, including the defendant’s two victims.

Investigators freed the 13 and 15-year-old boys from the freezing Düsseldorf attic in October 2010. The defendant was 16 at the time the alleged crimes were committed.

The two children, who grew up in state institutions, were locked in the attic at night, forced to suffer temperatures well below freezing. By day the older teen forced them to steal for him.

The young man’s parents were reportedly unaware of their son’s criminal activities, which also included collecting donations for a fake charity.

Along with three other perpetrators the boy solicited money from businesses across the region for a non-existent school in Argentina, keeping the money for himself.

If convicted, the 17-year-old could spend several years in a juvenile correctional facility.

DAPD/DPA/ka

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Germany raids properties in bribery probe aimed at AfD politician

The investigation targets Petr Bystron, the number-two candidate for the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in next month’s European Parliament elections, Der Spiegel news outlet reported.

Police, and prosecutors in Munich, confirmed on Thursday they were conducting “a preliminary investigation against a member of the German Bundestag on the initial suspicion of bribery of elected officials and money laundering”, without giving a name.

Properties in Berlin, the southern state of Bavaria and the Spanish island of Mallorca were searched and evidence seized, they said in a statement.

About 70 police officers and 11 prosecutors were involved in the searches.

Last month, Bystron denied media reports that he was paid to spread pro-Russian views on a Moscow-financed news website, just one of several scandals that the extreme-right anti-immigration AfD is battling.

READ ALSO: How spying scandal has rocked troubled German far-right party

Bystron’s offices in the German parliament, the Bundestag, were searched after lawmakers voted to waive the immunity usually granted to MPs, his party said.

The allegations against Bystron surfaced in March when the Czech government revealed it had bust a Moscow-financed network that was using the Prague-based Voice of Europe news site to spread Russian propaganda across Europe.

Did AfD politicians receive Russian money?

Czech daily Denik N said some European politicians cooperating with the news site were paid from Russian funds, in some cases to fund their European Parliament election campaigns.

It singled out the AfD as being involved.

Denik N and Der Spiegel named Bystron and Maximilian Krah, the AfD’s top candidate for the European elections, as suspects in the case.

After the allegations emerged, Bystron said that he had “not accepted any money to advocate pro-Russian positions”.

Krah has denied receiving money for being interviewed by the site.

On Wednesday, the European Union agreed to impose a broadcast ban on the Voice of Europe, diplomats said.

The AfD’s popularity surged last year, when it capitalised on discontent in Germany at rising immigration and a weak economy, but it has dropped back in the face of recent scandals.

As well as the Russian propaganda allegations, the party has faced a Chinese spying controversy and accusations that it discussed the idea of mass deportations with extremists, prompting a wave of protests across Germany.

READ ALSO: Germany, Czech Republic accuse Russia of cyberattacks

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