(DPA) A 21-year-old Syrian refugee was handed a life sentence by a German court on Friday for a fatal knife attack against a gay couple on a Dresden street in October last year.
A 55-year-old man died, while his partner survived. Both were tourists visiting Dresden from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia when they became victims of the homophobic attack.
The prosecution called for the highest sentence possible on the grounds there were no mitigating circumstances for the assailant, who had served an earlier sentence for Islamist activity.
The court followed this and ruled that the convicted assailant, named only as Abdullah A in accordance with German privacy regulations, should serve a full 15 years before being eligible for release.
