Verdict due in murder of German politician

▶ Neo- Nazi accused of killing pro- migration advocate Luebcke

A German court was due Thursday to deliver its verdict in the trial of a neo- Nazi accused of murdering pro- migration politician Walter Luebcke, a killing that shocked the country and highlighted the growing threat of right- wing extremism.

Federal prosecutors say the suspect, 46- year- old Stephan Ernst, was motivated by “racism and xenophobia” when he allegedly shot Luebcke in the head on June 1, 2019, in what is believed to be Germany’s first far- right political assassination since World War II.

The conservative politician was found dead on the terrace of his home near the central city of Kassel the next day, with an autopsy showing he was shot at close range.

Summing up its case in December, the prosecution called for a life sentence for Ernst.

It also sought nine years and eight months for co- defendant Markus Hartmann whom it accuses of being an accessory in the killing and who allegedly helped Ernst in weapons training.

Luebcke, 65, belonged to Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative CDU party and headed the Kassel regional council in the western state of Hesse.

He supported Merkel’s 2015 decision to open the country’s borders to refugees and spoke in favor of hosting asylum seekers in a local town.

Prosecutors believe Ernst and his accomplice 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.”

The remark was widely shared online and turned Luebcke into a hate figure for the far right. After the speech, Ernst “increasingly projected his hatred of foreigners” on to Luebcke, prosecutors said at the opening of the trial in June.

Following mass sexual assaults by migrants against women in Cologne on New Year’s Eve 2015 and a 2016 Islamist attack in the French city of Nice, Ernst allegedly began tracking Luebcke’s movements.

Between 2016 and 2018, prosecutors say he worked with Hartmann to improve his skill with firearms, and the two attended right- wing demonstrations together.

In the course of their investigations, prosecutors separately charged Ernst with attempted murder for allegedly stabbing an Iraqi asylum seeker in the back in 2016.

They uncovered weapons and ammunition belonging to Ernst, including revolvers, pistols and a submachine gun.

Although Ernst initially admitted killing Luebcke, he later retracted his confession and said Hartmann had pulled the trigger.

But he then sacked his defense lawyer and reverted to his original confession, claiming he had been pushed into blaming Hartmann.

Luebcke supported Merkel’s 2015 decision to open the country’s borders to refugees and spoke in favor of hosting asylum seekers in a local town.