Two brothers are said to have murdered their sister – presumably because the woman’s life did not correspond to her moral standards. They are said to have brought the body to Bavaria in a suitcase.
Berlin – Two men are said to have killed their sister in Berlin and buried the body in Bavaria. The men allegedly committed the act “out of an offended sense of honor” because the life of the 34-year-old sister did not correspond to the morals of the suspects.
The Berlin public prosecutor and police announced on Friday. The suspects are said to have transported the body in a suitcase by train to Bavaria and buried it there near Neuburg an der Donau.
The brothers, aged 22 and 25, have been in custody since Wednesday. The men and the dead came from Afghanistan and had been living in Germany for several years, according to the investigators.
The prosecution obtained an arrest warrant because the men are considered highly suspected of killing their sister on July 13th. The 25-year-old had traveled to Berlin from Bavaria for the crime. According to the investigators, the brothers are said to have stowed the body in a suitcase and drove back to Bavaria on the same day with Deutsche Bahn to bury the body there near Neuburg an der Donau.
The 34-year-old, who was divorced and had two children aged 9 and 13, was initially considered missing. However, there were quick indications, including from the woman’s personal environment, that she might have been the victim of a homicide.
In cooperation with the Bavarian police authorities, the investigators came across a woman’s body on Thursday. The public prosecutor announced on Friday afternoon after the autopsy that the body found near Neuburg an der Donau was the suspect’s sister. However, the authority did not provide any further details about the homicide.
According to the public prosecutor’s office, the suspicion against the two brothers is based, among other things, on the evaluation of video recordings from the surveillance cameras of a Berlin long-distance train station, of radio cell data and testimony of witnesses.
Murders in the name of supposed honor have already caused a stir across Germany in the past. In February 2005, for example, the 23-year-old German-Turkish woman Hatun Sürücü was killed by her brother with three head shots in Berlin-Tempelhof. A little over a year later, the 20-year-old gunman was sentenced to a youth sentence of nine years and three months.
Girls and women in all parts of the world experience violence in the name of a traditional “honor”. However, the women’s rights organization Terre des Femmes usually sees no religious motives behind it. Rather, the patriarchal – i.e. male-dominated – thinking of the perpetrators would be in the foreground. Women would be considered possessions. And if they deviate from the traditional norms, the man is considered a “victim” because he loses his alleged honor. In extreme cases, this can also lead to murder. dpa
