Attack because of photo on AfD poster: four years imprisonment

Aachen (dpa / lnw) - After two knife attacks, the Aachen district court sentenced a 21-year-old man to four years' imprisonment for dangerous bodily harm. The man classified as dangerous had attacked and seriously injured a young man in Stolberg near Aachen last September. The reason was that the victim's family of Turkish origin was featured on an AfD poster in the North Rhine-Westphalian local election campaign.

The German with Iraqi roots had condemned this in the social networks and added “God denier” to the photo. The case had caused quite a stir. The defendant was also convicted of posting a symbol of the terrorist militia Islamic State on the Internet. The public prosecutor's office in Düsseldorf had requested a prison sentence of four years and nine months in its plea. The 21-year-old was convicted under adult criminal law.

The 3rd large youth chamber of the regional court said that the personality of the accused was shaped by religion and extreme tendencies. After his arrest, numerous IS image files were found on his cell phone. The presiding judge Jürgen Beneking said in the judgment: "We are not saying that the accused is a 'hardcore Islamist'". The confessing man had also stated in the course of the four main trial days that he wanted to make a big difference in the scene.

In another case, he attacked a man in Aachen with three knives and a machete because he had made his fiancée bad. He shouted "Allahu akbar" ("God is great"). The crime was recorded on a video camera at a pizzeria. "We saw how he beat him wildly," said the judge.

Source: Zeit