After being mistreated in a refugee home in Burbach, a security guard has been sentenced to eight months in prison on probation. The Siegen district court found him guilty of deprivation of liberty and dangerous bodily injury.
The defendant had admitted, according to a district court spokesman, among other things, in four cases, to have locked refugees in violations of the house rules in a so-called problem room. He also admitted that he had sprayed pepper spray into the eyes of a fugitive without warning when he lit a cigarette despite a ban. Among other things, his confession was counted in favor of the accused, the spokesman said.
The process of maltreatment in the institution has been going on since November 2018 - an end is not in sight. For months, guards and caregivers are said to have systematically imprisoned, repeatedly humiliated and tortured residents who violated house rules.
In the past, the court had segregated several individual cases, as long as the defendants had confessed and offered them milder and premature sentences. Nine people were previously convicted, mostly to fines. Among them was the home director - he received a suspended sentence of 15 months.