Honour killing story

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Georgius K.
Born: 1971
shot dead: 5 May 2007
Residence: Röthenbach (central Franconia)
Origin: victim: probably Greece; perpetrator: Kosovo
Children: one son (age 5), one daughter (age 16)
Perpetrator: Nedjat Kempinski, Kosovo-Albanian, age 32 at the time of the crime
Nedjat's sister Jasmin (then 30 or 34 years old) works as a waitress in a restaurant and has an affair with the innkeeper Georgius. His ancestry is sometimes called Greek, sometimes Georgian, sometimes Russian-Greek. Georgius is married and has two children. He is a Christian, but Jasmin is Muslim.

Now Nedjat assumes that this extramarital affair is not voluntary. At least that is what he later claims in court. So he decides to kill his sister's lover. On May 5, 2007, he and his younger brother Nehat Kuci (29 years old) chase the innkeeper in their car. In the middle of Lauf (near Nuremberg) they bring his car to a stop and execute him on the public road.

Nedjat shoots him through the windshield in the chest. Then he shoots three more times. Both brothers flee to Kosovo via Italy and Albania. There Nedjat is arrested in November 2007 and extradited to Germany. His brother is still wanted on an international arrest warrant.

In court, Nedjat confessed to the crime in November 2008. From the Süddeutsche Zeitung: "K. wants to explain something on this first day of the trial. From his mother, who still lives in Kosovo, he claims to have learned with some certainty that his married sister certainly only had a forced relationship with the innkeeper. The latter had certainly threatened to go to the mafia if his mistress left him again. However, he did not hear this directly from his sister, who is married and a mother herself. He says he hasn't talked to her much about the case. He is 34 now, then you can tell from a distance if a woman is voluntarily in a relationship.

According to witnesses, the love affair between the two was known to everyone. Even the innkeeper's wife probably knew about the relationship. Yet Jasmine supports her brother's testimony in court, possibly to protect him. She is then taken away in handcuffs for suspected false testimony. In December 2008, Nedjat is sentenced to life in prison.

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:

Questions about honour killings

  • 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.

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