
A German court sentenced two Afghan brothers to life in prison on Thursday for murdering their sister because they disapproved of her 'modern' lifestyle.
The victim, a 34-year-old mother of two, identified as Maryam H., was found buried on a hill in Germany's southern Bavaria region weeks after she disappeared from her home in Berlin in July 2021.
Train station security footage showed her brothers, Yousuf and Mahdi H., boarding a train from Berlin to Bavaria at the time Maryam H. disappeared, dragging a heavy suitcase believed to contain her body. her.
She was found with rope around her hands, feet, mouth and nose and experts told the district court in Berlin that she had been strangled to death before her throat was slit.
Judge Thomas Gross said the two men, both in their 20s, had killed the woman 'because she was increasingly withdrawing from the brothers' controlling influence'.
"They denied her this right, this right to life," Gross declared in the decision.
Prosecutors said the brothers had objected to their sister's 'semi-modern lifestyle' and had tried to stop her from having a new relationship after she split from her Afghan husband.
Defense lawyers argued that Yousuf had accidentally killed his sister during an argument and that Mahdi H. should walk free.
But the claims were dismissed by the court and the two brothers were found guilty after 42 days of negotiations and the questioning of 52 witnesses.