A court in Berlin on Wednesday found 22-year-old Jamal W. guilty of desecrating a grave when he urinated on the capital city's Holocaust Memorial after a drunken night visiting a nightclub.
The man was with a group of four other friends in May 2015, singing football songs, when the incident occurred, during which someone reportedly made an anti-Semitic statement. It was unclear, however, who had made the statement. Jamal W. denied that the statement was made at all.
A police officer at the time reported seeing two men peeing on the memorial and hearing the anti-Semitic statements. A second man was also put on trial, but was cleared of charges on Wednesday.
Jamal W. said he was very drunk and that he did not thoroughly think before urinating.
According to Bild, the 22-year-old, who comes from the neighbouring state of Brandenburg, said he was willing to take responsibility for what happened. He also reportedly belongs to a German-Jewish sports association.
“I am ashamed of my behaviour and I am ready to accept the consequences,” he told the court.
“I am not an anti-Semite. It was plain stupidity, I was dead drunk.”
He added that he was not aware that he was peeing on the Holocaust Memorial.