[ad_1]
Young people terrorized the Roma family over and over again in May 2019. First they spray a sign with the message “Not welcome.” Then they lit a firecracker and left a half-decomposed swan in the meadow where women, men and children camped with their caravans in Erbach-Dellmensingen in the Alb-Danube district. On the night of May 24, 2019, 19-year-old Leo B. finally throws a lit torch from a car. At the wheel sits Maximilian P., 18. In the back seat, Dominik O., 18, Julian F., 17, and Robin D., 18. They abuse the Roma family as “gypsies” who should “piss off.” This is how the defendants described the attacks in court. The lit torch lands in the grass next to a trailer. A woman and her nine-month-old baby sleep in the trailer. The flame goes out by itself after a few minutes.
Due to joint coercion in 45 cases, the second main criminal chamber of the Ulm Regional Court sentenced four of the five men to juvenile sentences of 10 to 16 months on Wednesday, suspended on probation. Driven by “xenophobia, racism and anti-Gypsyism”, the five defendants wanted to “sow a climate of fear and horror” and wanted to make it clear that more attacks would follow if the family did not leave. “Extremely reprehensible and inhumane” is what Chief Justice Michael Klausner called his motive.
“Words fail for that”
The court convicted all of the defendants under the juvenile criminal law. To impose a custodial sentence, even if suspended on probation, the Chamber must assume that the accused have the so-called injurious tendencies. For the court, there is no doubt that at least at the time of the crime the five defendants had this tendency.
The presiding judge talks about “tons of images” found on their cell phones. Among them, for example, a photo in which the defendants pose with a Reich flag with an imperial eagle and an iron cross and show the Hitler salute. They paid homage to Hitler, listened to “the inhuman texts” of the far-right band Landser and called Rome a “plague.” “Words are lacking for that,” says the judge.
Perpetrators have to visit a concentration camp memorial
Maximilian P., who was driving the car the night of the crime, is the only defendant for whom the judges are not sure whether a juvenile penalty still needs to be imposed. Maximilian P. confessed early and fully, apologized to the family and paid them 5,000 euros as compensation. He also sought “a whole new environment”, participated in a desertion program for neo-Nazis, and “completely strayed from his ideas.” Judges apply article 27 of the Juvenile Justice Law in their case. That means that Maximilian P. now has to prove herself for a year and a half. If successful, “the matter has been resolved for you,” as Judge Klausner put it. If he is noticed again, he too faces a sentence of youth.
The five young men are now also due to visit a concentration camp memorial four months from now to discuss German history. Then they have to record their impressions on ten pages. Leo B., Dominik O. and Julian F. also have to pay 1200 euros to the Hildegard Lagrenne Foundation, which supports Sinti and Roma. Maximilian P. and Robin D. have already paid compensation to the Roma family they wanted to evict from Erbach.
The judges have left the charge of attempted murder and attempted arson. The court does not consider it proven that the youths at least accepted the death of people by throwing a torch. “As you cannot look inside the heads of the accused, evidence is needed,” explains the judge. In the opinion of the Chamber, there are no such indications.
Because the five friends hadn’t planned the event far in advance. They had fished in a pond that night. A man passed by and offered them two torches in exchange for a fish. The defendant then spontaneously decided to drive with the lit torch to the meadow where the Roma family was camping. There, the youths would not have sneaked up on the caravans, but instead approached them in their car with loud music and shouts.
The Chamber followed the explanations of an expert, according to which the caravan in which the woman slept with her baby could only have caught fire in the most unfavorable circumstances. The torch would have landed directly on a tire and had to burn for at least ten, most likely 15 minutes, before the fire had spread to the tire and thus the caravan. However, the defendant’s torch had burned so badly that it only burned for about two minutes before going out on its own.
“Everyone, including the defendants, was very lucky,” Mehmet Daimagüler said after the verdict was announced. Daimaguler is the lawyer for the woman who slept in the trailer with her baby. Everyone would have been lucky that no one was injured in the attack. “It wasn’t a stupid kid joke. It wasn’t a clown. It was very serious.”
