A court in the southwestern German city of Landau on Monday sentenced asylum-seeker Abdul D.  to eight years and six months in prison for the murder of a teenage girl in the town of Kandel in December last year.

The murder had been seized upon by many opponents of Chancellor Angela Merkel's refugee policy to support their anti-immigration stance.

Suspect motivated by jealousy

Fifteen-year-old Mia V. was stabbed to death in a drugstore by her ex-boyfriend Abdul D., believed to be from Afghanistan. The teen was stabbed seven times with a kitchen knife that had a 20-centimeter-long (7.9-inch-long) blade.

According to prosecutors, the two dated for several months until Mia V. ended the relationship in early December. After the breakup, both she and her parents went to the police about Abdul D.'s harassing and threatening behavior. Prosecutors believe he acted out of jealousy and was seeking revenge for the breakup.

Abdul D. entered Germany in the spring of 2016 and was registered as an unaccompanied minor. He first lived in a juvenile care institution in the Germersheim district in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. He was later transferred to a supervised living group in the town of Neustadt and attended school in Kandel, where he met Mia V.

As authorities believe Abdul D. was underage at the time of the attack, he was tried as a minor. The maximum penalty for murder under German juvenile law is 10 years.

However, prosecutors have cast doubt over Abdul D.'s age. Although he says he was 15 years old when the stabbing occurred, an expert medical assessment ordered by the public prosecutor's office said that he is likely between 17 to 20 years old. Abdul D.'s lawyer has denied that the boy is older than 20.

Months of protests over murder

The case sparked several months of anti-immigrant and counterprotests in Kandel, a small town near the French border. The population of around 9,000 has been regularly swelled since January as demonstrators from leftist and right-wing groups have descended on the town.

Hundreds of people took part in a right-wing protest on Saturday by the "Kandel Women's Alliance" — which was organized by a man. Dozens of counterprotesters from leftist Antifa groups as well as local residents were also present.

The focus of the right-wing protests has shifted away from Mia V.'s death. They have become platforms for anti-refugee and anti-Islam sentiments, with demonstrators blaming the media and German Chancellor Angela Merkel's government.

Local residents with the "We are Kandel" group accuse the right-wing demonstrators of instrumentalizing Mia V.'s death and misrepresenting their town.

In a similar case, the eastern German city of Chemnitz saw days of violent right-wing protests after a German man was stabbed to death last Sunday, with a Syrian and an Iraqi man currently in police custody over the death.

Author: Rebecca Staudenmaier

First published: September 3, 2018

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