Trial in Feldkirch

Kurd paid a high price for his courage

(Bild: Dorn Chantall)

A Kurdish man tried to settle a dispute in the lakeside facilities in Bregenz and ended up being beaten up himself. The two perpetrators had to answer for grievous bodily harm at Feldkirch Regional Court on Tuesday.

"They acted with a brutality that is unparalleled," said public prosecutor Wilfried Siegele at the start of the trial. The perpetrator, a 21-year-old Turk, had attacked and seriously injured a Kurd in the Bregenz lakeside facilities at the end of September. And all because the victim showed civil courage and wanted to settle an argument between the two accused and a young man. "I was walking by the lake with a friend when I saw the first defendant hitting a young man. 'Stop it, brother,' I shouted several times. When I approached them, the defendant came at me," said the victim, visibly moved on the witness stand. "The first defendant pulled the Kurd to the ground and hit him in the face with a sharp stone so hard that he suffered a concussion and a fracture to his eye socket. The perpetrator then pulled out a knife and used it to attack the man lying on the ground again. After the victim had successfully defended himself, the 22-year-old second defendant held the victim while his accomplice struck the victim several times," the public prosecutor quotes from the criminal complaint. After the crime, the attackers fled, but were caught by the police shortly afterwards.

Two guilty verdicts
During the trial, both defendants pleaded not guilty and tried to convince the court that they were the actual victims. However, the judge and public prosecutor believed the accounts of the two witnesses, who had also identified the defendants as the perpetrators. The council therefore found the first defendant guilty of grievous bodily harm and sentenced him to eight months in prison and a fine of 3360 euros. The second defendant got off with a fine of 600 euros. The Council awarded the victim 350 euros in partial compensation for pain and suffering.