Knife attacker in Germany sentenced to almost 10 years imprisonment

A German court found 24-year-old knife attacker Alaa S. guilty on Thursday and sentenced him to nine and a half years' imprisonment for manslaughter and dangerous bodily injury.

After 19 days of trial, the court was convinced that Alaa S. had stabbed 35-year-old Daniel H. on Aug. 26 2018 in the German city of Chemnitz together with the Iraqi Farhad A. who fled and is wanted worldwide.

The prosecution had demanded a prison sentence of ten years and found the defendant's guilt had been established.

The accused man from Syria had proceeded with a "high degree of brutality", the joint plaintiff said and added that the victim could not defend himself and had no chance of escape or defense.

The defense, on the other hand, had pleaded for acquittal and appealed to the regional court's chamber not to be influenced by demands from politics, German citizens or a "marauding mob".

The fatal knife attack that took place in the outskirts of the Chemnitz city festival in 2018 was followed by xenophobic attacks and right-wing demonstrations.

At the height of the protests, 6,000 people went out on the streets of Chemnitz. Furious citizens demonstrated alongside neo-Nazis as fear spread among refugees in Germany.

The case then also became a stress test for the Germany government. In a dispute over the question of whether refugees had been "hunted down", Hans-Georg Maassen, head of Germany's Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, was ultimately sacked.

The verdict is not yet final and can be challenged before Germany's highest court.