Syrian Jailed For Germany Knife Killing That Sparked Far-right Protests

A 24-year-old Syrian man was sentenced to nine- and-a-half years in jail Thursday for a knife killing that sparked racist street violence and far-right protests in the eastern German city of Chemnitz

Berlin, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 22nd Aug, 2019 ) :A 24-year-old Syrian man was sentenced to nine- and-a-half years in jail Thursday for a knife killing that sparked racist street violence and far-right protests in the eastern German city of Chemnitz.

The court found that Alaa Sheikhi, together with an Iraqi man still at large, stabbed to death 35-year-old German Daniel Hillig in the early hours of August 26 last year.

Defence lawyers appealed the verdict, arguing that the court had buckled under societal and political pressure, but chief justice Simone Herberger said she saw "no doubt about his guilt".

The manslaughter conviction comes at a sensitive time, one year after thousands of neo-Nazis and enraged citizens marched through Chemnitz, and 10 days before state elections in the ex-communist region.

Sheikhi, who arrived in Germany during the 2015 mass migrant influx to Europe, was detained hours after the attack, together with another Iraqi who was later released for lack of evidence.

Defence lawyer Ricarda Lang had argued that the case against Sheikhi was based only on questionable, late-night witness testimony rather than fingerprints, DNA or other forensic evidence.

Lang also asserted, shortly before the verdict, that the court was "not unaffected by the political situation in Chemnitz" and may convict the defendant because "someone needs to take the blame so that Chemnitz stays quiet".

The trial was held not in Chemnitz but in Saxony's state capital Dresden, for security reasons and because of what the court called the "extraordinarily high public interest".