FRANKFURT, AFP - Jan. 28, 2021
A German neo-Nazi was sentenced on Thursday to life in prison for murdering pro-migration politician Walter Luebcke, a killing that shocked the country and highlighted the growing threat of right-wing extremism.
Stephan Ernst, 47, was found guilty of shooting dead the lawmaker from Angela Merkel’s conservative CDU party on June 1, 2019, in what is believed to be Germany’s first far-right political assassination since World War II.
Luebcke was found on the terrace of his home near the central city of Kassel, with an autopsy showing he was shot in the head at close range.
Handing down the verdict, judge Thomas Sagebiel said there was “no room for manoeuvre in the murder conviction ... and in the assessment of culpability”.
Addressing Luebcke’s family, he added: “We know that we can hardly measure your loss and that the proceedings were very painful for you. Our task was to conduct a fair trial and... we have endeavoured to do that.” A co-defendant, Markus Hartmann, was cleared of being an accessory in the killing but found guilty on weapons possession charges and received a suspended sentence of 1.5 years.
Summing up its case in December, the prosecution said Ernst had been motivated by “racism and xenophobia”.
Luebcke, 65, headed the Kassel regional council in the state of Hesse. He supported Merkel’s 2015 decision to open the country’s borders to refugees and spoke in favour of hosting asylum seekers in a local town.
Prosecutors said Ernst had attended a speech by Luebcke in October 2015 when the politician defended helping refugees, adding that anyone who did not agree with those values was “free to leave the country”