Three defendants, aged 21 to 27, allegedly beat up a man in a gateway in Hamburg’s St. Georg district last October – apparently because he had disturbed them while they were praying. At the start of the trial on Thursday at the Hamburg Regional Court, the alleged victim, a 55-year-old man, described his point of view. According to this, he wanted to drive through his gateway at the time, where three young men were sitting and praying. ” There is a person who has to pass and we do have Corona”, he allegedly shouted to the Muslims. He also honked his horn.The three men then tore open the doors of his car and beat, kicked and spat at him. “The worst was the spitting,” the 55-year-old said in court. The accused did not say a word about it.
One of them is a Salafist who has long been under surveillance by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. Three years ago, the 24-year-old was already on trial. He had tried to leave for Syria together with fellow believers and to become a combatant for the terrorist group “IS”. At the time, a judge called him a “typical dangerous person”. His own parents had repeatedly contacted the police because they had to watch helplessly as their son became more and more radicalised.At that time he did not serve prison time, he was given probation. Now he is in custody because he is a risk of absconding.