Europe's news in English

COPY LINK

CRIME

German-born criminal to be deported to Turkey

A German-born Turkish man with a string of criminal convictions can be deported to Turkey, even though he has never lived there and only speaks broken Turkish, a court has ruled.

Published: 21 November 2009 11:04 CET

German-born criminal to be deported to Turkey

A question of identity? Photo: DPA

The legal fight between the city of Munich and the 22-year-old man was decided on by the Bavarian Administrative Court on Friday, which ruled he can be expelled from Germany.

The man could be expected to continue to commit crimes, the judge ruled. And although his deportation is a massive encroachment on his ‘personal, economic and social relationships’, it can be undertaken in the German public interest.

The man first came to the attention of the authorities when he was just 11, after missing school and then beating up his classmates. In April 2005 he was first jailed on two counts of grievous bodily harm and a sexual offence. Further convictions followed, of violence, making threats, theft and possession of drugs.

He was sentenced to two years and nine months in prison, where he seemed to flourish, completing his school certificate and starting a carpentry course. But when he was released in February 2007, he again went off the rails, the court heard, failing to meet his probation officer, and taking drugs. In July 2008 he was again convicted of causing grievous bodily harm and has been in prison since this April.

The court decided that the man could be deported to Turkey, with the judge noting that he spoke broken Turkish and saying he was not ‘integrated’ into German society.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.

Become a Member to leave a comment.

Germany, Czech Republic accuse Russia of cyberattacks

The accusations come at a time of strained relations between Moscow and the West following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine and the European Union’s support for Kyiv.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said a newly concluded government investigation found that a cyberattack targeting members of the Social Democratic Party had been carried out by a group known as APT28.

APT28 “is steered by the military intelligence service of Russia”, Baerbock told reporters during a visit to Australia.

“In other words, it was a state-sponsored Russian cyberattack on Germany and this is absolutely intolerable and unacceptable and will have consequences.”

APT28, also known as Fancy Bear, has been accused of dozens of cyberattacks in countries around the world. Russia denies being behind such actions.

The hacking attack on German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s SPD party was made public last year. Hackers exploited a previously unknown vulnerability in Microsoft Outlook to compromise e-mail accounts, according to Berlin.

Berlin on Friday summoned the acting charge d’affaires of the Russian embassy over the incident.

The Russian embassy in Germany said its envoy “categorically rejected the accusations that Russian state structures were involved in the given incident… as unsubstantiated and groundless”.

Arms, aerospace targeted: Berlin

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said the cyber campaign was orchestrated by Russia’s military intelligence service GRU and began in 2022. It also targeted German companies in the armaments and aerospace sectors, she said.

Such cyberattacks are “a threat to our democracy, national security and our free societies”, she told a joint news conference in Prague with her Czech counterpart Vit Rakusan.

“We are calling on Russia again to stop these activities,” Faeser added.

Czech government officials said some of its state institutions had also been the target of cyberattacks blamed on APT28, again by exploiting a weakness in Microsoft Outlook in 2023.

Czech Interior Minister Rakusan said his country’s infrastructure had recently experienced “higher dozens” of such attacks.

“The Czech Republic is a target. In the long term, it has been perceived by the Russian Federation as an enemy state,” he told reporters.

EU, NATO condemnation

The German and Czech findings triggered strong condemnation from the European Union.

“The malicious cyber campaign shows Russia’s continuous pattern of irresponsible behaviour in cyberspace, by targeting democratic institutions, government entities and critical infrastructure providers across the European Union and beyond,” EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said.

The EU would “make use of the full spectrum of measures to prevent, deter and respond to Russia’s malicious behaviour in cyberspace”, he added.

State institutions, agencies and entities in other member states including in Poland, Lithuania, Slovakia and Sweden had been targeted by APT28 in the past, the statement added.

The latest accusations come a day after NATO expressed “deep concern” over Russia’s “hybrid actions” including disinformation, sabotage and cyber interference.

The row also comes as millions of Europeans prepare to go to the polls for the European Parliament elections in June, and concerns about foreign meddling are running high.

Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky told AFP that “pointing a finger publicly at a specific attacker is an important tool to protect national interests”.

One of the most high-profile incidents so far blamed on Fancy Bear was a cyberattack in 2015 that paralysed the computer network of the German lower house of parliament, the Bundestag. It forced the entire institution offline for days while it was fixed.

In 2020, the EU imposed sanctions on individuals and entities linked to the APT28 group over the incident.

Url copied to clipboard!