GERMAN neonazi Stephan Ernst was jailed for life today for the murder of Christian Democratic Union party MP Walter Luebcke.
He was convicted for shooting dead the lawmaker in an assassination the prosecution said was motivated by “racism and xenophobia.”
Co-defendant Markus Hartmann was cleared of being an accessory to the murder but received a 1.5-year suspended sentence on weapons possession charges.
Mr Luebcke supported Chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision to open German borders to refugees and spoke at a meeting in October 2015 in favour of hosting asylum-seekers in a local town in Hesse.
Mr Ernst was present at the meeting and soon after the German politician started receiving death threats. He was shot in the head at point-blank range on the terrace of his home in June 2019.
https://sputniknews.com/europe/202101281081906875-neo-nazi-sympathiser-gets-life-in-prison-for-assassinating-german-pro-migration-lawmaker/
Prosecutors pointed out that Stephan Ernst had been motivated by “racism and xenophobia” as he moved to assassinate a German MP who has repeatedly called for supporting refugees.
A neo-Nazi sympathizer has been sentenced to life in prison for assassinating pro-migration German lawmaker Walter Luebcke on 1 June 2019.
On Thursday, 47-year-old Stephan Ernst was found guilty of gunning down Luebcke, 65, at his home near the town of Kassel, in what was thought to be Germany’s first political assassination since the Second World War.
Prosecutors said that the member of Angela Merkel s CDU party was shot in the head at close range, a killing that took place four years after Luebcke supported the German Chancellor’s decision in 2015 to open the country’s borders to migrants.
Updated / Thursday, 28 Jan 2021
12:12
Stephen Ernst in court in the city of Frankfurt
A German neo-Nazi has been sentenced 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 politician from Angela Merkel s conservative CDU party on 1 June 2019, in what is believed to be Germany s first far-right political assassination since World War II.
The body of the conservative politician was found on the terrace of his home near the central city of Kassel, with a post-mortem examination showing that he was shot in the head at close range.
Far-right extremist convicted of murdering German politician
Main defendant Stephan Ernst looks on in the courtroom at the higher regional court in Frankfurt, Germany, Thursday, Jan. 28, 2021. The German court has convicted the 47-year-old far-right extremist Stephan Ernst of the murder of Walter Luebcke, a regional politician, in a brazen killing that shocked the country, and sentenced to life in prison. (Kai Pfaffenbach/Pool Photo via AP) January 28, 2021 - 4:35 AM
BERLIN - A far-right extremist in Germany was convicted Thursday and sentenced to life in prison for the murder of a regional politician who had advocated helping refugees â a brazen killing that shocked the country.
Main defendant Stephan Ernst and his lawyer Mustafa Kaplan look on in the courtroom as they wait for the verdict in the case of the murder of Walter Luebcke, at the Higher Regional Court in Frankfurt, Germany. Picture: Kai Pfaffenbach/Ruters
German neo-Nazi handed life sentence for murdering pro-migration politician
By AFP
By Annalena Dörner with Femke Colborne in Berlin
Frankfurt am Main, Germany - 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 politician 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.