BERLIN (AP) – A far-right extremist in Germany was sentenced to life on Thursday for the murder of a regional politician who advocated helping refugees – a brutal murder that shocked the country.
In its verdict against 47-year-old Stephan Ernst, the Frankfurt court noted the “special seriousness” of the crime, meaning that he is unlikely to be eligible for release after 15 years, as is typical under German law, said the dpa news agency. reported.
At his trial, Ernst admitted that on June 1, 2019, he was gunned down on Walter Luebcke, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party that led regional administration in the Kassel region of central Germany – although he gave three different versions of the events. .
Luebcke was targeted because he had spoken out for helping refugees. Prosecutors said Ernst attended a city hall event in 2015 where the politician defended the German government’s decision to allow hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers into the country.
The court ruled that Ernst “projected xenophobia on Dr. Luebcke”.
Ernst shot Luebcke on the politician’s porch and died hours later.
The German government warned after the Luebcke murder and other attacks – including one on a synagogue on Yom Kippur, Judaism’s holiest day, in October 2019 – that far-right extremism poses a significant threat to security in the country.
An accomplice alleged by prosecutors with Ernst at the scene of the crime, identified only as Markus H. due to German privacy laws, was convicted of gun violations and sentenced to 18 months probation.
H. had been charged with complicity in murder, but his attorney argued that he was not involved and that he was only found guilty of the lesser charge.
Ernst was cleared of separate charges of stabbing and seriously injuring an Iraqi refugee in 2016. Judge President Thomas Sagebiel said there are circumstances to suggest he is the culprit, “but no lasting evidence.”
“Today’s verdict is encouraging and reminding us all at the same time: we will not allow our country to be destroyed by right-wing terrorists and their intellectual instigators,” said Armin Laschet, leader of Merkel’s Christian Democratic party.
Laschet said that “killing Walter Luebcke was not only a heinous, inhuman crime against an individual, but an attack on all of us.” He added that it is important to stand behind other local politicians who are exposed to “personal hostility”.