Arson attack on asylum accommodation in Salzhemmendorf
The arson attack on an asylum accommodation in Salzhemmendorf, Lower Saxony, on the night of August 27th to 28th, 2015 was directed against a mother from Zimbabwe with three children aged four, eight and eleven. The Salzhemmendorf assassination was just one of many arson attacks on asylum shelters, but unlike other acts, it was aimed directly at people. Around 40 people were housed in the asylum center.
Sequence of events
The perpetrators stuffed sawdust into a brandy bottle, drained oil from the heater and poured it on the bottle. At two in the morning, the 31-year-old main culprit threw the self-made Molotov cocktail through the window of a ground floor apartment. The incendiary burned parts of the PVC floor and developed heavy smoke, but people were not harmed. An eleven-year-old boy usually stayed in the room where the attack was committed. That night he slept in his mother's room. The woman from Zimbabwe had been living in Salzhemmendorf with her three children since November 2014.
Reactions
The district of Hameln-Pyrmont and the district fire brigade distanced themselves from right-wing extremism and announced training courses for fire fighters against right-wing extremism. The 25-year-old accomplice was with the volunteer fire brigade and even helped extinguish the fire after the attack. The district administrator called for the rally "Good Neighborhood" and provided free buses.
Criminal proceedings
The Hanover Regional Court opened criminal proceedings on February 10, 2016. The responsible public prosecutor's office in Hanover accused the trio of collective attempted murder in unity with serious arson. The suspects made a confession on the first day of the trial. The main perpetrator confessed to having thrown a self-made Molotov cocktail into the window of the accommodation. The other two defendants also admitted their involvement, but alleged that they were under the influence of alcohol. The defense had proven the National Socialist sentiments of the defendants during the trial.
The verdict was passed on March 17, 2016. The Hanover regional court sentenced the perpetrators to several years' imprisonment. Judge Wolfgang Rosenbusch saw three criteria for murder as fulfilled: "You acted for base motives, insidiously and with a weapon that was dangerous to the public." The 31-year-old main perpetrator had to spend eight years in prison for attempted murder and arson. The 25-year-old accomplice received seven years in prison. Both were drunk. A 24-year-old single mother of two who drove the two men to the scene was sentenced to four and a half years in prison. The court sentenced her as an accomplice, not an assistant.
The pronounced prison sentences are remarkable, since according to a research by ZEIT, suspects have been identified in less than a quarter of all anti-refugee attacks in Germany in 2015 . A total of twelve cases were charged, but a verdict was only given four times.
literature
- Florian Finkbeiner, Katharina Trittel, Lars Geiges: Right-wing radicalism in Lower Saxony. Actors, developments and local interaction . Transcript, Bielefeld 2019, ISBN 978-3-8376-4965-9 , chapter: Case study 1: Salzhemmendorf , pp. 87-139
Individual evidence
- ↑ Salzhemmendorf: Two assassins confessed ( Memento from September 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Conversations about Hitler, tattoos with runes
- ↑ "It wasn't the schnapps" tachles , March 21, 2016
- ^ Arson attack in Salzhemmendorf: Eight years imprisonment for main perpetrators
- ^ DIE ZEIT, November 3, 2015. Accessed March 21, 2016