Honour killing story: Ariana (2003)

Ariana
born 1978
murdered: 6 May 2003
Residence: Übach-Palenberg (near Aachen)
Origin: Kosovo
Children: at least 1 daughter (16 months at the time of the crime)
Perpetrator: her brother-in-law Burin M. (25 years old)

Burin is an asylum seeker from Kosovo and lives in Hamburg. His brother lives with his wife and child (or children) in Übach-Palenberg near Aachen.

During a visit, an argument ensues. Burin suspects that his brother's wife is having an affair and is thus cheating on his brother. In front of his 16-month-old daughter, he stabs Ariana more than 30 times. Quote from the indictment: "In doing so, he intended to inflict particular pain on his victim and to torture her by a slow onset of death by deliberately placing the knife stabs in less life-threatening parts of the body." He then separates the head from the corpse and walks through the pedestrian zone with the head and knife. The judge will later speak of a medieval triumphal procession.

In front of the Aachen court, Burin shows no remorse, but is proud of his deed. He claims that Ariana is a bad woman and has dishonored the family. For this, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison for manslaughter in September 2003. The court considered his cultural background and his experiences from the war in Kosovo as mitigating circumstances.

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.