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Statue of the goddess of justice Justitia (symbolic image)
Photo: Frank Rumpenhorst / dpa
The Berlin public prosecutor has brought murder charges against two men who are said to have killed a woman in the name of an alleged honor.
According to the indictment, the two brothers murdered their 34-year-old sister for low motives.
The Afghan defendants, who are now 26 and 22 years old, wanted to punish the sister "for her western-oriented lifestyle."
This had contradicted her image of women - and her "archaic ideas of honor and morality," according to the investigators.
The woman had separated from her husband before the act because he had become violent.
She was married to him at the age of 16.
She turned to a new man after the divorce.
Her brothers "did not want to accept" any of this.
The 34-year-old had two children.
Her brothers have been in custody since early August.
The violence also made headlines because of the brutality.
The public prosecutor's office accuses the men of jointly killing the woman on July 13th.
They later transported the body in a suitcase by train to Bavaria and buried it near the 26-year-old's home.
Fall sparked discussions about the term "honor killing"
The case had also been said to be open to political discussion.
Franziska Giffey (SPD), meanwhile Governing Mayor of Berlin, insisted on speaking of an "honor killing" in the case.
Only when "forced marriage and honor killings and their religious and cultural backgrounds are not taboo topics can we take effective action against the causes," said Giffey at the time.
Critics had objected that in Germany, on average, a woman is killed by her partner or ex-partner every third day.
The term femicide is more appropriate.
fek