Germany: Man charged for attacking Jewish restaurant; receives one-year prison sentence

Three years ago, a 30-year-old German man was found guilty of an anti-Semitic attack on a Jewish restaurant. The man, whose identity was withheld due to German privacy laws, was found guilty of serious aggravated assault and violation of peace by the Chemnitz district court. According to the German news agency Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA), Judge Dominik Boerner sentenced him to a one-year prison sentence.

According to DPA, the judge factored in a previous drug-dealing conviction into the man's sentence. On August 27, 2018, the individual was a part of a group that stormed the eatery. According to DPA, the gang flung cobblestones at the building, injuring the Jewish proprietor of the Schalom eatery. During the assault, the group chanted anti-Semitic comments. Investigators eventually discovered the man's DNA on one of the stones, claimed the DPA.

The defendant declined to speak at the start of the trail

Following the fatal stabbing of a German man by a Syrian asylum seeker in Chemnitz, the anti-Semitic attack was a part of many days of far-right, anti-migrant protests. Hundreds of far-right rioters from all around Germany descended on Chemnitz, demonstrating and chasing immigrants through the city.

The defendant declined to speak at the start of the trial. Uwe Dziuballa, the owner of the Jewish restaurant, claimed he was astonished that night when he came out and saw roughly ten people, all dressed in dark clothing, staring at him with hatred.

Then came the thunderous blasts, he recalled. Dziuballa told the court that this came as a huge shock to him, adding that his restaurant had been targeted previously but never in such a large-scale attack addressed at him personally.

Several far-right organisations, including the Alternative for Germany political party, rallied supporters to converge on Chemnitz in 2018, making the city famous for attracting radicals from around Germany. In early September, a week of turbulence and political instability culminated in one of the country's largest gatherings of neo-Nazis, when over 10,000 people assembled as a part of numerous demonstrations.

Authorities investigated 282 offences 

Authorities investigated 282 offences in connection with the violence, including physical assault and racist abuse, according to the Saxony Justice Ministry. According to the ministry, 171 of these investigations were discontinued, primarily owing to a lack of evidence or the inability to locate the criminals. This was in response to a request for information from the socialist Left Party.

(Inputs from AP News)