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Jonny K. murder case sentencing

August 15, 2013

Six people have been handed jail sentences for beating a 20-year-old man to death in Berlin last year. The court identified Onur U. as the main offender and issued him a juvenile sentence of four and a half years.

https://p.dw.com/p/19QPB
BERLIN, GERMANY - AUGUST 15: Tina K. (R), sister of victim Jonny K., and her mother hold hands as they sit in the courtroom as co-defendants Bilal K. (L) and Memet E. cover their faces shortly before judges announced verdicts on the last day of the trial of the six Jonny K. attackers at the Kriminalgericht Moabit court on August 15, 2013 in Berlin, Germany. Chief defendant Onur U. received a youth sentence of four and half years for causing aggravtaed bodily harm. The six young men are accused of assaulting Jonny K. in front of a bar on Alexanderplatz on October 14, 2012, and beating him so severely that Jonny K. later died of his head injuries. His sister Tina has led a media campaign to draw publicity to the case and the issue of violence in German society. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
Image: Getty Images

Ten months after the deadly attack and beating of Jonny K. at Berlin's Alexanderplatz, a Berlin district court has sentenced the six perpetrators to prison.

Onur U., who the prosecution portrayed as the main offender behind the attack, was sentenced to four and a half years in juvenile detention for assault resulting in death. He was 19 years old at the time of the attack. The other defendants received prison sentences of up to two years and eight months.

After Jonny K. was killed, Onur U. fled Germany for Turkey, where he holds citizenship. Following a month-long legal tug-of-war, the country handed Onur U. over to the German judiciary in April.

The presiding judge Helmut Schweckendieck said, "A tragedy unfolded in which a young man who just wanted to help lost his life for no reason."

Urteil im Prozess Johnny K. in Berlin

Jonny K., a Thai-German student, was beaten so severely outside a bar in October 2012 that he died shortly afterwards of a brain hemorrhage in hospital. A friend of Jonny K.'s who was also seriously injured in the attack testified in the trial as a witness.

The case sparked outrage across Germany and triggered a national debate on youth violence.

The victim's sister, Tina K., appeared as a co-plaintiff (pictured right). After the death of her brother, the 28-year-old began campaigning publicly against violence.

hc/msh (Reuters, AFP, dpa)