Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

CRIME

Berlin court sentences street racers to life for murder in national first

A court in the German capital on Monday convicted two illegal street racers who caused a deadly high-speed car crash of murder and handed them life prison terms in a landmark ruling.

Published: 27 February 2017 16:00 CET
Berlin court sentences street racers to life for murder in national first
The crash debris in western Berlin. Photo: DPA

Hamdi H. and Marvin N. were each sentenced to maximum jail terms after the prosecution sought a conviction of murder rather than manslaughter. It was the first time in Germany that a court had found street racers guilty of murder. 

The prosecution argued that even if the men did not plan to kill anyone during their race on February 1st, 2016, they had accepted the likelihood of deadly consequences.

The murder verdict means they will spend a minimum 15 years behind bars and came as Germany is seeking to toughen its laws against illegal street racing.

The pair were racing through western Berlin, running a series of red lights, when Hamdi H. crashed at 160 kilometres per hour into a jeep near the city's landmark KaDeWe shopping centre.

The 69-year-old driver of the jeep was killed on the spot.

The men's defence lawyers had pleaded for a manslaughter conviction for Hamdi H. and sought a lesser charge of endangering street traffic for Marvin N.

During the trial, a psychologist described one of the defendants as “extremely overly self-confident” and said he was determined to “win in order to boost his ego”, reported national news agency DPA.

Germany's transport ministry is mulling making such races punishable by up to 10 years' prison rather than treating them as administrative offences carrying a fine and a temporary suspension of the driver's licence.

In addition, convicted persons would routinely have their driver's licence revoked and vehicles impounded.

CRIME

Teenager turns self in after attack on German politician

A 17-year-old has turned himself in to police in Germany after an attack on a lawmaker that the country's leaders decried as a threat to democracy.

Published: 5 May 2024 12:52 CEST
Teenager turns self in after attack on German politician

The teenager reported to police in the eastern city of Dresden early Sunday morning and said he was “the perpetrator who had knocked down the SPD politician”, police said in a statement.

Matthias Ecke, 41, European parliament lawmaker for Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats (SPD), was set upon by four attackers as he put up EU election posters in Dresden on Friday night, according to police.

Ecke was “seriously injured” and required an operation after the attack, his party said.

Scholz on Saturday condemned the attack as a threat to democracy.

“We must never accept such acts of violence,” he said.

Ecke, who is head of the SPD’s European election list in the Saxony region, was just the latest political target to be attacked in Germany.

Police said a 28-year-old man putting up posters for the Greens had been “punched” and “kicked” earlier in the evening on the same Dresden street.

Last week two Greens deputies were abused while campaigning in Essen in western Germany and another was surrounded by dozens of demonstrators in her car in the east of the country.

According to provisional police figures, 2,790 crimes were committed against politicians in Germany in 2023, up from 1,806 the previous year, but less than the 2,840 recorded in 2021, when legislative elections took place.

A group of activists against the far right has called for demonstrations against the attack on Ecke in Dresden and Berlin on Sunday, Der Spiegel magazine said.

According to the Tagesspiegel newspaper, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser is planning to call a special conference with Germany’s regional interior ministers next week to address violence against politicians.

SHOW COMMENTS