Foreign
THE angry atmosphere in court during the trial of 11 men charged with raping a student outside a disco in the German city of Freiburg requires that some of them wear leg irons, the court ruled on Tuesday.
Presiding judge, Stefan Richter referred to undisciplined behaviour and impulsive shouts from some of the accused aimed at witnesses during the trial, which began in late June.
Eight of the 11 are restrained to prevent attacks and attempts to flee.
Defence lawyers had applied for the leg irons to be removed.
The men aged 18 to 30 at the time of the assault in Oct. 2018.
They were charged with sedating the victim, who was 18 at the time, and then raping her in bushes outside the disco or, alternatively, refusing to offer her assistance.
According to the charge sheet, the victim was offered an ecstasy tablet, and an unknown substance was put into her drink that rendered her incapable of resistance.
Eight of the accused are from Syria, one from Algeria, and one from Iraq. The 11th accused is German.
Police made use of DNA traces to track down the suspects in the case, which has received wide publicity in Germany. (dpa/NAN)
– Oct 22, 2019 @ 19:05 GMT |
Tags: Rowdy defendants shackled in gang rape trial in Germany
