BERLIN (AP) – A far-right German extremist was sentenced on Thursday and sentenced to life in prison for killing a regional politician who pleaded to help refugees – a horrific crime that shocked the country.
In its verdict against Stephan Ernst, 47, the Frankfurt state court mentioned the “special severity” of the crime, which means he will probably not be eligible for release after 15 years, as is typical in law. German, dpa news agency reported.
During his trial, Ernst admitted to the June 1, 2019 shooting of Walter Luebcke, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party who led the regional administration in the Kassel area of central Germany – although he offered three different versions of events.
Luebcke was targeted because he had been open to helping refugees. Prosecutors said Ernst attended a 2015 city hall event in which the politician defended the German government’s decision to allow hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers to enter the country.
The court found that Ernst “projected xenophobia on Dr. Luebcke.”
Ernst shot Luebcke on the politician’s porch and died a few hours later.
The German government has warned after Luebcke’s assassination and other attacks – including one on a synagogue in Yom Kippur, the holiest day of Judaism, in October 2019 – that far-right extremism poses a major security threat to the country.
An accomplice alleged by prosecutors to have been with Ernst at the crime scene, identified only as Markus H. because of German privacy laws, was convicted of a felony and sentenced to 18 months probation.
H. had been accused of being an accessory to the murder, but his lawyer claimed that he was not involved and was found guilty only of the lesser charge.
Ernst was removed from separate charges of stabbing and seriously injuring an Iraqi refugee in 2016. Judge Thomas Sagebiel said there were circumstances that indicated him as the perpetrator, “but there is no lasting evidence.”
“Today’s verdict encourages me and, at the same time, is a reminder for all of us – we will not let our country be destroyed by right-wing terrorists and their intellectual instigators,” said Armin Laschet, leader of the Christian Democratic Union-Merkel party. .
Laschet said that “killing Walter Luebcke was not just an ugly and inhuman crime against a person, but an attack on us.” He added that it is important to stay behind other local politicians who are exposed to “personal hostility”.