Attacks on December 29, 2018 in Amberg

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On December 29, 2018, there were a series of attacks in Amberg in Bavaria by four young men who hit several passers-by around the station. As it turned out that they were asylum seekers , the incident in connection with the debate on crime by asylum seekers aroused national interest in the media, society and politics.

Course of events and conviction

Crime scenes were u. a. the Amberg train station and the forecourt (picture from 2012)

The perpetrators were four asylum seekers from Afghanistan and Iran between the ages of 17 and 19 who were under the influence of alcohol at the time of the crime and did not live in Amberg. The 18-year-old Iranian who was involved in the crime was being deported and he should have left Germany in February 2018. One of the three Afghans involved in the crime was prohibited from deportation because he was a minor. The Bavarian state government then asked the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) to lift the ban on deportation. A second Afghan who was involved in the crime sued the Bavarian Administrative Court against an asylum rejection notice from May 2017. In addition, with the permission of the Bavarian authorities, he trained as a cook . Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann (CSU) then wanted to have the permit lifted. The asylum procedure was still ongoing for the third Afghans involved. The Bavarian government asked the BAMF for a quick decision after the crime.

The victims were between 13 and 42 years old. According to witnesses, the kicks and blows were preceded by insults against the victims. There were eleven people who were slightly injured, and a 17-year-old was hospitalized with a head injury. The four offenders were located until the trial in custody , they were grievous bodily harm alleged.

The perpetrators were on trial for having drunk through downtown Amberg and beating passers-by for no reason. In addition to bodily harm offenses, the court also dealt with coercion, property damage, insults and violations of the Narcotics Act. On May 10, 2019, the Amberg District Court sentenced the 18-year-old Iranian main defendant to a youth sentence of two years and seven months (including three other offenses) and ordered him to be placed in a detention center . The other three defendants were sentenced to youth sentences of between 6 and 13 months, the execution of which was suspended.

On May 21, 2019, an 18-year-old Afghan asylum seeker who had been sentenced to six months probation for the beating was deported to Kabul . Two other people convicted of the attacks are also said to be deported to their homeland, Afghanistan.

Reactions

The Lord Mayor of Amberg, Michael Cerny , condemned the incident and reported the reactions of many citizens of the city, who were "appalled and shocked"; the perpetrators had "done the peaceful and committed asylum seekers a disservice". In an interview with the Süddeutsche Zeitung on January 4, 2019, he stated that the media excitement about the case was "totally overdimensioned", that it was nothing new that "bodily harm can occur under the influence of alcohol". After the incident, the police, on instructions from Interior Minister Herrmann, increased their presence in the city, which was shut down again in early January. Cerny received more than 500 comments regarding the incident on his Facebook account.

Federal Minister of the Interior Horst Seehofer said: “The events in Amberg made me very upset. These are excesses of violence that we cannot tolerate. ”Seehofer demanded the deportation of offenders who had committed criminal offenses and announced that the law would be tightened. The federal government also condemned the beatings. According to a spokeswoman, she "took note of the fact in Bottrop with dismay". On the other hand, Federal Justice Minister Katarina Barley spoke out against tightening the rules for the deportation of delinquent foreigners and advocated the consistent application of laws.

The chairman of the German Police Union (DPolG) Rainer Wendt demanded an explanation from the federal government about the incidents. It cannot be that one speaks of a " hunt " only when the perpetrators are right-wing extremists . Klaus Dienelt, presiding judge at the Darmstadt Administrative Court, suggested restricting the right of asylum seekers to take legal action against an asylum rejection notice. In Germany, asylum seekers can take legal action against their deportation through all instances. As in other EU countries, this could be limited to one instance, provided that its decision was final in court.

The Spiegel journalist Andreas Borcholte criticized that a comparatively marginal incident was being used by the Interior Ministry to demand stricter laws. He also criticized the different comments on the part of Seehofer, who “was disturbed by the excesses of violence in Amberg”, but only “wanted to follow hard ” the attacks in Bottrop and Essen .

According to various media reports, the incident was instrumentalized by right-wing extremists , and the NPD in particular "created a targeted mood". The NPD Nuremberg claimed in Facebook posts that a vigilante group was conducting patrols in Amberg. According to Philip Kreißel, IT expert at the Ichbinhier Association , there have been signs of an internet campaign in which the reader's comments on many reports on the attacks in Bottrop and Essen in 2019 tried to draw the subject to the events in Amberg.

The publishing house Oberpfalz Medien compared the supraregional and Germany-wide reactions and reports to this incident with those of an event a month later (January 2019) at a station of the Nuremberg S-Bahn : After an argument, three young people fell on the tracks, two 16-year-olds were run over by an incoming S-Bahn and fatally injured. Two 17-year-olds were arrested and under investigation for manslaughter. All those involved were Germans. According to OM, the Amberg incident made headlines nationwide, OM recorded almost 700 Facebook comments, a third of which had been deleted because of incitement and insults, and the Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann held a press conference in Amberg. The response to the event in Nuremberg was far lower in the German press landscape and caused a single Facebook comment on OM.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ (Zeit Online, dpa, AFP, vk): Attacks in Amberg. Deporting the suspects would be illegal. In: Zeit Online . January 2, 2019, accessed January 3, 2019 .
  2. ↑ a b (AFP / cba): Seehofer zu Amberg: “ Excessive violence that we cannot tolerate”. In: welt.de . January 1, 2019, accessed January 3, 2019 .
  3. ↑ a b c (dpa / lby / AFP / mm / tz): Amberg: Beatings orgy by refugees. New information about the alleged perpetrators. In: merkur.de . January 3, 2019, accessed January 3, 2019 .
  4. ↑ a b c (dpa, AFP): Amberg mayor appalled. Beating asylum seekers trigger debate. In: zdf.de . January 1, 2019, accessed January 3, 2019 .
  5. ↑ An asylum seeker has to go to prison after being beaten
  6. ↑ jpz / dpa / AFP: Amberg: prison sentence for refugees after attacks on passers-by. In: Spiegel Online . May 10, 2019, accessed May 16, 2020 .
  7. ↑ From the court by Andreas Glas: Judgment in Amberg - The quiet end of a loud case. In: sueddeutsche.de . May 10, 2019, accessed May 16, 2020 .
  8. ↑ Deportation after the beating attack from Amberg: Asylum seekers back home
  9. ↑ Interview by Elisa Britzelmeier, Amberg: Amberg: Lord Mayor Cerny in an interview. In: sueddeutsche.de . January 4, 2019, accessed May 16, 2020 .
  10. ^ Beating attack: Taking a breath after the hype onetz.de from January 11, 2019
  11. ^ BR24 editors, Uli Scherr: Seehofer wants to react to beatings from Amberg. In: br.de . January 1, 2019, accessed January 3, 2019 .
  12. ↑ dpa / epd / jr: Amberg and Bottrop: Federal government condemns the attacks. In: welt.de . January 2, 2019, accessed May 16, 2020 .
  13. ↑ Manuel Bewarder , Marcus Heithecker: GroKo threatens new dispute about deportation rules , Welt , January 6, 2019
  14. ↑ German judge suggests restricting asylum seekers' right to sue
  15. ↑ The real problems cannot be put off to spiegel.de
  16. ↑ (lie / AFP): After attacking passers-by: right-wing extremists claim to be patrolling Amberg. In: Spiegel Online . January 2, 2019, accessed January 3, 2019 .
  17. ↑ (afp / dpa): After the attack in Amberg: right-wing extremists jump up. In: taz.de . January 3, 2019, accessed January 3, 2019 .
  18. ^ Eva Horn, Sonja Peteranderl: Right-wing extremists use Amberg for their campaign , Spiegel Online , January 2, 2019
  19. ↑ Death seems less important. www.onetz.de, February 1, 2019