Life sentence for perpetrator of stabbing in German city of Solingen with three deaths

The confessed perpetrator of the knife attack on August 23rd of last year, which left three dead and ten injured, eight of them seriously, at a popular festival to celebrate the 650th anniversary of the city of Solingen, in western Germany, later claimed by the jihadist group Islamic State (IS), was sentenced to life in prison this Wednesday. The Düsseldorf Regional Court imposed on the accused, Issa Al H., 27 years old, the maximum sentence for murder, attempted murder, grievous bodily harm and membership of a foreign terrorist organization, and also determined the special gravity of his guilt. In addition, he must pay 360,000 euros in compensation for moral damages to several victims. According to the opinion of a psychiatric expert, the accused is fully responsible for his actions. The sentence matches the request of the Federal Prosecutor’s Office, which the private prosecution had joined, of life imprisonment for the accused, his confinement in a penitentiary once the sentence has been served and to determine the special gravity of his guilt. The defense, for its part, had also requested life imprisonment and to determine the special gravity of the guilt, but not its imprisonment once the sentence was served. In the first day of the process, which began on May 27, the perpetrator of the attack, of Syrian nationality, admitted his guilt and declared himself willing “to accept the sentence” of the court. According to the prosecution, the man repeatedly and deliberately stabbed several event attendees with a knife in the neck and torso area, mostly from behind, after which he fled, although he was arrested the next day. Also the next day, ISIS announced that the attack had been perpetrated by a member of the organization.