Men Acquitted in Attack
June 15, 2007
The brutal beating of Ermyas M. came just a few months before the soccer World Cup, raising fears of xenophobic violence during the event in which Germany hosted 2 million foreign guests.
The 38-year-old victim is an Ethiopian-born engineer and father of two who has been living in Germany since 1987. He was found unconscious and seriously injured at a tram stop in the city of Potsdam in the early morning of April 16, 2006.
Racially motivated?
The incident, which is alleged to have been racially motivated, provoked a storm of protests demanding tougher action against racist violence, especially in the economically depressed eastern Germany. Thousands of people staged demonstrations expressing their solidarity with Ermyas M.
The victim was calling his wife at the time of the assault. Her voicemail recorded the attackers using racial insults. News reports later questioned this racial motive.
Ermyas M. is said to have consumed a lot of alcohol the evening of his beating. Police also said that prior to the attack he was involved in a brawl at a disco and later got into a shouting match with a bus driver.
Lack of evidence
The defendants, Björn L., 30, and Thomas M., 32, had consistently denied involvement in the attack and said they were not at the scene. They also denied being part of any radical right-wing movement and they have no legal history of radicalism.
The Potsdam state court listened to often contradictory witness testimony. In the end, judges decided to acquit the men for lack of evidence.
A relaxed-looking Ermyas M. said after the verdict that he agreed with the court's decision to acquit the men.
"Without clear and convincing proof, they had to be acquitted," he told reporters outside the court Friday.
He did not remember the attack.
Investigators have been able to piece together the course of events at the tram station from a recording of the attack on the voicemail box of the victim's wife. The recording led to the arrest of the two suspects.
The case was a classic example of giving the defendant the benefit of the doubt, said chief judge Michael Thies. There was evidence of wrongdoing, but it was not a sufficient basis for a conviction, he said.
Public hysteria
The judge criticized the public hysteria surrounding the case. While he acknowledged that hostility towards foreigners existed as a backdrop to the case, he said it was not the compelling reason for the attack.
The victim said the trial had helped him to work through the horrific attack, which left him in a coma for two weeks and in the hospital for months.
"If I were to say that everything was like before, I would be lying. But I am mentally strong," he said.