BERLIN, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- A 50-year-old man who shot and killed a gas station employee in Germany after a dispute over mandatory face masks due to COVID-19 was sentenced to life in prison by the Bad Kreuznach regional court in the federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate on Tuesday.
After being told by the 20-year-old cashier to put on his face mask back in September 2021, the convict first left the gas station. Less than two hours later, he entered the gas station again, this time wearing a face mask. At the cash register, he pulled off his mask and shot the employee, who immediately died at the scene.
The man already confessed in custody. Although the crime was judged to be murder and not just manslaughter, the court did not recognize a "particular degree of guilt." As a result, the perpetrator can apply for a suspended prison sentence after 15 years.
At the time, the murder had fueled fears of further violence by people who did not accept the government's COVID-19 measures. Driven by the so-called "Querdenker" (anti-lockdown) protesters, Germany reported a new record in the number of politically motivated crimes last year with more than 55,000 cases.
"We registered a very large number of crimes in 2021 in the wake of the coronavirus protests -- up to and including excessive violence," Germany's Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser said when she presented the figures in May.
"The terrible climax of this violence was the murder at the gas station in Idar-Oberstein by a man who refused to wear a mask," Faeser said.
The gas station killer already began to follow radical opinions in 2015, initially by rejecting refugees, according to the responsible prison psychologist. After his father's suicide in 2020, he further radicalized in the protest against COVID-19 measures.
Before committing the murder, the convict was not known to police. The court said in its verdict that the man wanted to set an example and believed to be "destined to do this." Both the prosecution and the defense can still appeal the verdict. ■
