By Anja Wieberneit
In September, Hamburg investigators arrested a teenager in Berlin. The accusation: He is said to have attacked a then 60-year-old man with incredible brutality when he was peacefully demonstrating against anti-Semitism during a vigil in downtown Hamburg. Now Aram A. (17) and his brother (15) are on trial.
The black eye patch shocks. She will accompany Michael T. (61, name changed) forever. But he carries it with defiance and determination. Just like his usual black kippah.
Michael T. came to the Hamburg criminal justice building on Friday: He was a witness and joint plaintiff in the trial against the alleged thug Aram A. and his little brother. The two Berliners with Syrian roots are said to have attacked T. at a Jewish vigil on Mönckebergstrasse last fall, and only the older one is said to have struck: smashed his cheekbones, nasal bones and glasses.
A splinter of glass injured T. in his right eye so badly that he has been blind ever since.
“There was a request from the defense attorney, an attempt at an apology that could be sorted out. But I don’t believe that. That was just tactics,” says T. to the BZ
He is convinced that the attack was out of sheer hatred of the Jews: “They didn’t leave afterwards, they even laughed, it was completely normal for them. Frightening!”
The public prosecutor’s office also seems to assume anti-Semitic motives, because the file number they gave this case begins with 71: 7101Js1209/21. Department 71 is the state security department, responsible for politically motivated crimes.
The victim of the attack: He wears a patch over his blind eye Photo: Hesse
Because the accused are minors, the trial will take place behind closed doors.
According to BZ information, Aram A. referred to self-defense yesterday. The verdict is expected in August.