The crime horrified many people: two young Ukrainian basketball players were killed. Six months later, the trial began in Essen. Four young people are accused of murder.
The violent death of two young Ukrainian basketball players in Oberhausen caused nationwide consternation in February. The trial against four defendants began on Monday at the Essen Regional Court. The young people, now aged 14, 15 and 16, two of whom have German and two Syrian nationality, must answer to the youth criminal court for insidious murder.
Half an hour before the start of the closed hearing, the parents of the killed Ukrainians were already sitting nervously on a bench near the courtroom. “They are severely traumatized,” explained their lawyer Alice Scaglione. Their clients will certainly find it difficult to look the people in the eye who are allegedly responsible for the death of their children. “Of course they want the harshest punishment possible,” Scaglione continued.
Public prosecutor: Attack only because the young people were Ukrainians
The crime occurred on the evening of February 10. The two Ukrainian basketball players were on their way to Düsseldorf when, according to the prosecution, they met the four defendants on the bus. They are said to have immediately made a plan to attack and injure the two friends after they got off the bus. According to the public prosecutor’s office, the sole reason for this plan was that the young people were Ukrainians.
After everyone had left the bus at Oberhausen main station, the defendants are said to have immediately beaten and stabbed the two victims. The 17-year-old died that same evening during an emergency operation in hospital. His friend and teammate, who was a year older, succumbed to septic multi-organ failure ten days later.
Three of the four defendants are said to have committed multiple crimes before the bloody crime. “This too must be clarified,” said co-plaintiff’s lawyer Scaglione on the sidelines of the start of the trial. Eleven days of hearings are scheduled for the trial until November 21.
Source: Stern
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