Ali R. has been on trial since the beginning of January. According to the indictment, he tried to rape a girl in Meißen in the summer of 2020, even dragging her into the river Elbe. So far he has remained silent.
On Monday he suddenly declared: ” Dear judge, I am much younger.” Now the question is how old the accused really is and whether he must be sentenced according to adult criminal law (up to five years in prison) or juvenile criminal law (educational measures).
So far, all documents available state that Ali R. was born in June 1997. As an Afghan citizen in Tehran. That would make him 23 years old. Now he suddenly claims to have been born in 2000, i.e. 20 years ago.
He says he confused his date of birth with that of his sister. In addition, his real birth date is in a document that the Office for Foreigners’ Affairs (BAMF) has on file.
Immediately, the chamber did some research. And lo and behold: this Persian document, which was specially checked by experts from the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, states that Ali was “estimated” to be 13 years old in 2013.
However, the experts also say that this is not an official document, but rather a copy with ” redrawn” stamps. The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees thus never saw any reason to change the recorded date of birth from 1997 to 2000.
His brother Hussein, who was born on the same day in the same town according to the documents, could have made things clearer. He is currently being tried at the district court in the same building. So he was questioned. His answer: “We are only twins when we are in Germany”.
They had not fled, by the way, but had come to Germany “to have a look”. Now the court had to commission an elaborate age test involving three clinics before the trial against Ali R. could continue.