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A silhouette of the goddess Justitia on a window in the Moabit Criminal Court
Photo: Paul Zinken / picture alliance / dpa
Because he shot his 39-year-old brother-in-law in revenge, the Berlin district court has sentenced a 33-year-old to life imprisonment.
The Trial Chamber found Mhamed H. guilty of murder and robbery resulting in death.
According to the findings of the 30th Criminal Court, H. drove from Bonn to Berlin with a co-defendant 39-year-old and his girlfriend at the end of November 2021.
In the brother-in-law's apartment in the Wedding district, he shot the man three times with a revolver, who died immediately, and stole a bag with documents and 700 euros from the dead man's wallet.
»Take the law into your own hands«
Mhamed H. held the dead man - his sister's partner and father of his two nephews - responsible for the early death of his sister in February 2021 and did not want to accept that his brother-in-law would have custody of his sister's two children.
According to defendant H., the two boys should instead grow up with his own family in Bonn.
The woman died of a heart attack in February 2021.
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In addition, according to the conviction of the court, a dispute developed over custody of the woman's two underage sons.
Mhamed H. decided to "take the law into his own hands," Judge Herb said.
It was a kind of »vigilante justice«.
The chamber assessed the act as murder for base motives, such as revenge, but was unable to determine any particular degree of guilt, contrary to what the public prosecutor had demanded.
This would have largely ruled out early release.
The 39-year-old co-accused, who the court found to be involved in the crime, was sentenced to five years in prison for particularly aggravated robbery.
It was not possible to prove to him that he knew of the defendant H.'s intention to kill.
A decision that Roland Weber would still like to review and possibly appeal.
The Berlin lawyer represents the brothers of the dead man in the proceedings.
"We are convinced that the co-accused was privy to the plans."
At the beginning of September, the girlfriend of the co-defendant was also accused of being an accessory to robbery resulting in death.
However, this could not be proven to her during the main hearing.
The case against her has been dropped.
jjc/AFP