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Abdullah Al HH in court in Dresden
Photo: Matthias Rietschel / Getty Images
The trial of a 21-year-old Syrian who allegedly attacked a gay couple with a knife last October has begun in Dresden.
The two men from North Rhine-Westphalia, 55 and 53 years old, were tourists in Dresden's old town when the perpetrator suddenly stabbed them.
The younger of the two survived seriously injured, the older died shortly after the attack.
The defendant Abdullah Al HH thought the men were a homosexual couple and wanted to punish them with death for what he saw as a "serious sin", said a representative of the Federal Prosecutor's Office at the start of the trial before the State Security Senate.
He also did not rule out preventive detention.
The accused himself does not want to comment on the crime during the trial and "defend himself in silence," as his lawyer put it.
His client rejects the court as “an earthly court that does not have to evaluate what he has done from a divine point of view”.
Nevertheless, numerous details of the crime and its circumstances became known at the outset.
Because the doctor and forensic psychiatrist Norbert Leygraf from Münster had talked for hours with the defendant in the Dresden penal institution in March.
The Syrian was ready to provide information.
"He has admitted the deed"
Defense attorney Peter Hollstein admitted during a break in the negotiations that the accused had made a de facto confession with his statements to the expert.
“So the cat is out of the bag.
He has admitted the act.
This is the right perpetrator in court. «His client also spoke to the expert about his motives.
The murder criteria mentioned by the federal prosecutor's office are fulfilled.
The other question is whether juvenile criminal law and preventive detention apply.
Abdullah Al HH comes from Aleppo, where he grew up in poor conditions.
He came to Germany as a refugee in 2015.
In 2018 he was sentenced to a youth sentence by the Dresden Higher Regional Court for advertising the terror network "Islamic State" (IS), which was increased after attacks on officials in prison.
He was released from custody at the end of September 2020 and allegedly attacked the two tourists on October 4.
Almost three weeks later, the 21-year-old was caught.
ptz / dpa / AFP