Six adults are said to have racially insulted and attacked a young person. The student later addressed the public in an emotional video. Now the process follows.
The student fought back tears when she testified: More than a year after an alleged racist attack in Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg, the 18-year-old testified as the first witness in the trial against six defendants. Again and again she was insulted and physically attacked after getting out.
“It’s racism,” said the high school graduate in front of the Tiergarten District Court. The accused – three women and three men between the ages of 25 and 55 – had previously completely or largely rejected the allegations.
According to the indictment, two of the women are said to have racially abused the then 17-year-old Dilan on the evening of February 5, 2022 on a tram. One of these women and another defendant are said to have punched and kicked the student, whom they had never met before, after she got off at a bus stop. The men are said to have cheered on the alleged perpetrators. The charges were insult, threat and dangerous bodily harm and aiding and abetting.
In a video from the hospital, Dilan later reported the crime, sometimes crying, and complained bitterly that none of the people around had helped her and that initial reports from the police and media initially attributed her complicity.
Dilan: Suffering from psychological effects
It was not about a missing mask, the 18-year-old now described in court. “The whole time I was insulted against xenophobia,” says the student with Turkish roots and a German passport. After getting out, a blond suspect ran towards her with a raised fist – “I was able to dodge, bumped into a two-meter man who is also sitting here”. Then six people would have formed a circle around them. The 55-year-old woman hit her and pulled her hair. To this day, she suffers from the psychological consequences, has fear and nightmares, says Dilan.
“Aggression came from her”
The defendants contradicted the descriptions of the student. “The aggression came from her,” said a 43-year-old. She spoke loudly to two of his companions on the tram because they were not wearing mouth and nose protection. The young woman suddenly became loud. When he stood between her and the two women from his group, the then 17-year-old “punched him purposefully on the back”. A 34-year-old said that because she was initially insulted, she “insulted a little in Arabic” at the teenager.
A 55-year-old said through her defense attorney that they were celebrating a birthday and were heavily intoxicated. There was a verbal argument on the tram – “but I had nothing to do with what happened”. The 55-year-old admitted to pulling the teenager’s hair at the Greifswalder Straße stop. “From today’s perspective, she can no longer say why this happened,” said the lawyer. His client “didn’t insult, kick, hit,” the teenager.
The act had caused a stir – also because the police initially misrepresented the cause of the attack and wrote in a message that the conflict was triggered by the fact that the woman had not worn a corona mask. The German Press Agency also adopted this original description of the police in a report and also did not mention the woman’s references to racist insults already mentioned in the police report.
The hearing will continue on April 17th. According to current planning, a judgment is planned for the second day of the trial.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
