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At the trial for the right-wing terrorist attack in Halle, the defendant was sentenced to life imprisonment with subsequent preventive detention. Furthermore, the court determined the particular gravity of the fault.
In the trial for the right-wing terrorist attack on the Halle an der Saale synagogue, the Naumburg Higher Regional Court imposed the maximum penalty. The defendant Stephan B. was sentenced in Magdeburg to life imprisonment with subsequent preventive detention. The verdict was issued for, among others, double homicide, attempted multiple homicide and sedition. The court also determined the particular gravity of the fault.
With the verdict, Presiding Judge Ursula Mertens and the other four judges followed the demands of the federal prosecution and the accessory indictment. The sentence can be appealed before the Federal Court of Justice.
“Cowardly attack”
When the verdict was announced, Mertens called it a “cowardly attack.” The defendant had relativized his actions and motives in many places. B. responded to the verdict with a blank face and began to take notes.
On October 9, 2019, on the highest Jewish holiday, Yom Kippur, the convict tried to break into the Halle synagogue and kill the 51 people gathered there. He threw incendiary devices and explosives and fired at the access door, but did not enter the premises.
He later murdered a 40-year-old passerby in front of the synagogue and a 20-year-old in a nearby kebab shop. In his escape, B. shot police officers, drove the getaway car toward a black man, and shot a man and woman in a town near Halle after they refused to give him their car. In a workshop, the then 27-year-old blackmailed a taxi that the police were able to locate with the help of the taxi driver. Later, the police arrested him.
The killer filmed his facts and broadcast them live on the Internet. The accusation was based on racist, anti-Semitic and xenophobic sentiments.
The largest criminal case in the history of Saxony-Anhalt
The process, which lasted around 14 months, is considered the largest criminal case in the history of Saxony-Anhalt. For security and space reasons, the Naumburg Higher Regional Court moved the hearing to the largest courtroom in the country in Magdeburg.
In 25 days of trial, the court questioned a total of 79 witnesses and 15 experts. 45 survivors and grieving families joined the accessory prosecution and were represented by 23 attorneys. The survivors’ final conferences alone had lasted three days into the trial, and many had spoken at that time or earlier on the witness stand. Almost all had reported serious psychological consequences of the crime.
