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In the trial for the terrorist attack on the Halle synagogue, the federal prosecutor’s office has demanded life imprisonment for the alleged murderer. US Attorney Lohse spoke of one of the “most disgusting anti-Semitic acts since World War II.”
According to the will of the prosecution, Halle’s killer will be behind bars for the rest of his life. The federal prosecutor’s office demanded life imprisonment for the right-wing extremist, the determination of the particular gravity of the guilt and the subsequent preventive detention. It is said that he was convicted, among other things, of murder, attempted murder, sedition and attempted blackmail.
US Attorney Kai Lohse described the event in his closing conference as a “nightmare” and spoke of one of the “most disgusting anti-Semitic acts since World War II.” In the act, the defendant not only attacked the guests of the Halle synagogue, but also Jewish life in Germany as a whole. “The perpetrator targeted all of us because Jewish life is an indispensable part of our country,” the prosecutor said.
With the attack, the 28-year-old wanted to “exaggerate his existence, which was marked by failures and failures” and wanted to give it a special meaning. The prosecutor also expressed great respect for the victims of the attack. Many of them, including survivors from the synagogue and the kebab shop, as well as injured policemen and bystanders, had testified at the trial. “Over the course of the main hearing, it became clear over and over and in many moving moments, the suffering that the perpetrator inflicted on his victims,” the federal prosecutor said of the statements of the survivors and mourners. “The experience has left lasting traces.”
Lohse: “fair trial”
Even more remarkable is the bravery with which the survivors stood up to the accused. At the trial, the court managed to give the victims enough space without undermining the rights of the accused or losing sight of the legal objective of the process, the determination of guilt. “The defendant has not been given a stage here to spread inhumane ideologies,” Lohse said. “However, their rights were respected and no one can say that this was not a fair trial.”
The German Stephan B., 28, confessed at trial that on October 9, 2019, he tried to kill the 51 people who were celebrating Yom Kippur, the highest Jewish holiday in the Halle synagogue. When he missed the huge gate, the perpetrator shot a passerby and then a young man in a kebab shop and injured other people. He justified the acts with racist and anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. The trial has been held in the Naumburg Higher Regional Court since July and the hearing is held in Magdeburg due to lack of space.
Previously, Presiding Judge Ursula Mertens had closed the test session on the 21st of the main process.
