By Britta Bruhn, Matthias Gebauer, Frank Hornig, Miret Naggar and Marcel Rosenbach
Defendant Alex W. (right) concealed his face as he was brought into the Dresden court on Monday.
A German man of Russian origin accused of killing a pregnant Egyptian woman in a courtroom by stabbing her 16 times went on trial for murder in the eastern city of Dresden on Monday amid tight security and fears of Muslim protests.
The killing on July 1 of Marwa al-Sherbini, the 31-year-old mother of a three-year-old, during a court hearing triggered anti-German protests in the Muslim world and led to criticism from Muslim immigrants and commentators that Islamophobia is widespread in Germany.
German authorities are concerned that the trial could lead to a fresh wave of demonstrations abroad and have turned the court in Dresden into a fortress after Internet threats against her attacker, named only as Alex. W, who moved to Germany from Russia in 2003.
Alex W., 28, had been in court in Dresden on July 1 to appeal against a €780 fine for calling al-Sherbini an "Islamist", "terrorist" and "slut" when she asked him to make room to let her son go on the swings at a playground.
During the frenzied attack he also stabbed al-Sherbini's Egyptian husband, a research scientist at a German institute in Dresden, who was then shot in the leg by a police officer who had rushed into the courtroom and mistook him for the attacker.
Alex W. wore a hooded jacket and cap and masked his face with sunglasses and a black scarf as he was led into the courtroom on Monday morning with his hands and feet cuffed. He initially refused to obey an order from the judge, Birgit Wiegand, to reveal his face, but took the scarf off and pulled the hood back after he was fined €50 for disobeying the court.
German Government Trying to Calm Tensions
There was little immediate reaction in Germany to al-Sherbini's murder in July but a wave of outrage swept through the Muslim world. The German government, which was accused by Muslim groups in Germany of being too slow to express its sorrow over the attack, is now at pains to prevent the trial from stoking demonstrations of the kind that followed the publications of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in Danish newspapers in 2005.
The three-week trial will focus on the motive of Alex. W, his racism and whether there are any grounds for diminished responsibility. A number of camera crews from Arab media have accredited themselves for the trial. "The Egyptians want the death sentence," said Al Jazeera correspondent Aktham Suliman. The trial should at least avoid giving the impression that murdering a Muslim woman is "not so bad," he said.
Alex. W's defense attorney, Michael Sturm, said: "The media attention, the attention this is getting in the Arab world and the huge security precautions are poison for this trial. We will see whether the court can withstand this pressure."
The Egyptian government is closely monitoring the case and has sent its ambassador and a delegation to attend it. The president of the Egyptian bar association and the public prosecutor of Alexandria are also watching the trial.
Rarely has a German justice authority been under such scrutiny, not least because of its failure to protect al-Sherbini in a courtroom just 40 meters from where the current trial is taking place. Elwy Okaz, the widower, is suing the court president and the presiding judge in the July 1 case for breaching their responsibilities.
Attempts to Ensure Neutral Reporting
The German government has been aware of the explosive potential of the Dresden case for weeks, and an analysis by the foreign ministry has warned of violent protests in front of Gerrman embassies abroad. A government task force is trying to prevent an uproar in the Arab media that could incite protests. Berlin diplomats have taken unusual steps to cater for the Arab media. All 20 reporters from Egypt who applied for accreditation to the trial have been allowed to attend to avoid the impression of censorship.
The reporters have been presented with a dossier on German criminal law with a detailed chapter on why Germany doesn't have the death penalty. Officials will be on hand to provide information on the trial. The aim, one diplomat says, is to make the media coverage "as neutral as possible."
That won't be an easy task, especially if the defense lawyer plays the diminished responsibility card. However, a preliminary psychiatric report concludes that the man from the Russian city of Perm was fully in control of his faculties. Alex W., who was living on unemployment benefit, lived like a hermit, court documents show. He didn't go out much, mostly ate ready-cooked meals and was often depressed.
Attacker Addicted to 'Smoking, Drinking and Gaming'
Instead of seeking medical help, he turned to alcohol and drank up to two liters of wine or 11 bottles of beer a day. Police found violent games on his computer. Alex W. himself says he had three addictions: "Smoking, drinking and gaming." He is shy and hadn't had lasting relationships.
By contrast, Marwa al-Sherbini was a happy, well-educated woman from a good family. She was a trained chemist and her husband gained his doctorate at Dresden's Max-Planck-Institut. Alex W. said he had felt hatred when he saw her walk towards the exit of the courtroom on July 1 with a "triumphant look" on her face, court documents show.
Police say the defendant and others taking part in the trial are at risk after threatening messages appeared in the Internet over recent months. In summer, a one-hour audio message appeared in which someone who identified himself as Sheikh Ihab Adli Abu al-Majid indirectly called on Muslims living in Germany to kill al-Sherbini's murderer and said they would be rewarded by Allah.
The court building has been cordoned off with fences and hundreds of armed police are patrolling the area. Snipers are on hand and a bullet-proof glass screen separates the court from the public gallery.
Marwa al-Sherbini's killer is getting the protection that tragically wasn't available to her.
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