Germany synagogue attacker gets 7 years imprisonment

A right-wing extremist responsible for an attack on a synagogue in the German city of Halle in 2019 has been sentenced to seven years for taking people hostage in prison, reported Xinhua.

The man must also pay money to several aggrieved parties, the Stendal District Court decided on Tuesday.

In 2020, the man had been given a life sentence for the racist and anti-Semitic attack on the Halle synagogue. The new sentence will therefore not have any practical consequences.

At the start of the trial, the defendant had confessed to taking prison staff hostage on December 12, 2022, with a homemade weapon in a bid to gain freedom. The plan failed.

On Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, he tried to force his way into the synagogue. When the door held, he shot dead two people nearby and injured two others as he fled.

The man confessed to carrying out the attack on October 9, 2019, and was convicted and given a life sentence.