Honour killing story: Alberto (2013)

Alberto
born: 1979
Attempted murder: 24 June 2013
Residence: Vellmar near Kassel
Provenance: victim: unclear, possibly Romania; perpetrator: Turkey
Children: unclear
Perpetrator: the brother of his ex-girlfriend (20 years)

Alberto gets to know 17-year-old Filiz at the employment office. The two have a short relationship. How far this relationship goes is completely unclear.

In any case, Filiz' brother will not tolerate the relationship. On 24 June 2013 he will be waiting on his doorstep in Vellmar.

With a second offender he goes to him, stabs him. The second offender is probably his uncle. Even if the victim is bleeding on the ground, they keep stabbing him.

When the neighbors notice the fight, the perpetrators flee. Alberto comes to the clinic with life-threatening injuries, undergoes emergency surgery and has to stay in hospital for 3 weeks. The perpetrator is caught the next day, the second perpetrator/uncle so far not.

At the beginning of 2014, the trial will start at the regional court of Kassel. There it is said that the young woman's family has threatened this Alberto before. The mother probably urged the young woman to report her "boyfriend" for rape. Meanwhile, Alberto is in prison for another offence. There it is said that a reconciliation between perpetrator and victim would have taken place.

You could read the whole thing as a Rule-it-yourself criminal case story. But the prosecutor doesn't. The charge is attempted murder. The motive: The young man didn't want to tolerate his sister's relationship with the victim. At first, the accused remains silent. In March, the perpetrator is sentenced to 5 years in juvenile prison for attempted murder. The Federal Supreme Court allows the appeal, and the trial will be held at the Kassel Regional Court in January 2016. The sentence is reduced to 4 years and 6 months for assault. As the perpetrator has been in custody for 2 years and 6 months, he will be released immediately. The real names of the perpetrator and the sister are not known.

What is an honour killing?

An honour killing is a murder in the name of honour. If a brother murders his sister to restore family honour, it is an honour killing. According to activists, the most common reasons for honour killings are as the victim:

refuses to cooperate in an arranged marriage.
wants to end the relationship.
was the victim of rape or sexual assault.
was accused of having a sexual relationship outside of marriage.

Human rights activists believe that 100,000 honour killings are carried out every year, most of which are not reported to the authorities and some are even deliberately covered up by the authorities themselves, for example because the perpetrators are good friends with local policemen, officials or politicians. Violence against girls and women remains a serious problem in Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Iran, Serbia and Turkey.