BERLIN (AP) – A far-right extremist in Germany was sentenced Thursday and sentenced to life in prison for the murder of a regional politician who had defended aid to refugees – a blatant murder that shocked the country.
In its verdict against Stephan Ernst, 47, the Frankfurt state court noted the “particular gravity” of the crime, which means that he probably cannot be released after 15 years, as is typical of German law, the news agency dpa reported.
During his trial, Ernst admitted to the June 1, 2019 shooting against Walter Luebcke, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party who led the regional administration in the Kassel area of central Germany – although he gave three different versions of the events.
Luebcke was the target because he openly spoke out in favor of helping refugees. Prosecutors said Ernst attended an event at the 2015 city hall, in which the politician defended the German government’s decision to allow hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers to enter the country.
The court concluded that Ernst “projected xenophobia to Dr. Luebcke”.
Ernst shot Luebcke on the politician’s porch and he died hours later.
The German government warned after the assassination of Luebcke and other attacks – including one in a synagogue on Yom Kippur, the most sacred day of Judaism in October 2019 – that extreme right-wing extremism posed a significant threat to security in the country.
An accomplice that prosecutors claimed to be with Ernst at the crime scene, identified only as Markus H. due to German privacy laws, was convicted of gun violations and sentenced to 18 months probation.
H. had been accused of being an accessory to homicide, but his lawyer argued that he was not involved and was only found guilty on the minor charge.
Ernst was cleared of other charges of stabbing and seriously injuring an Iraqi refugee in 2016. Chief Justice Thomas Sagebiel said there are circumstances that point to him as the perpetrator, “but no sustainable evidence”.
“Today’s verdict encourages me and at the same time is a reminder for all of us – 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 Union party.
Laschet said that “the murder of Walter Luebcke was not just an abominable and inhuman crime against an individual, but an attack on all of us”. He added that it is important to support other local politicians exposed to “personal hostility”.