Trial in case of murder of two Ukrainian teenagers in Oberhausen begins in Germany

On Monday, 12 August, a trial in the case of the murder of two Ukrainian basketball players in the city of Oberhausen earlier this year began in the Essen Regional Court.

Source: European Pravda with reference to DPA.

Details: Four teenagers aged 14-16, two of whom are German citizens and two are Syrian citizens, are accused of premeditated murder.

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Alisa Scaglione, a lawyer for the families of the killed Ukrainian teenagers, said they demand the most severe punishment for the murder of their children.

She also called on the court to establish whether three of the four defendants had been previously prosecuted for criminal offences.

The trial is expected to last 11 days, and the verdict is expected to be delivered by 21 November.

Background:

• The attack took place in Oberhausen, Germany, on the evening of 10 February. The two Ukrainian basketball players were on their way to Dusseldorf when, according to the prosecution, they met the four defendants on a bus.
• It is alleged that they immediately decided to attack and injure the two friends after they got off the bus. According to the prosecutor’s office, the only reason for this plan was that the young men were Ukrainian.
• After everyone got off the bus at the main station in Oberhausen, the defendants allegedly immediately punched and stabbed both boys.
• Volodymyr Yermakov, 17, died that evening during emergency surgery in hospital. His friend and teammate Artem Kozachenko, who was a year older, died 10 days later of septic multiorgan failure.
• The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry took the investigation into the murder under special control.

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