A 22-year-old man has been sentenced to two and a half years in prison for an attempted arson attack on the synagogue in Ermreuth, Bavaria. The district court in Bamberg found the man guilty of attempted serious arson and damaging property on Friday (Az.: 510 Js 18/23).
The presiding judge attested to the defendant’s right-wing extremist sentiments that had existed for years. He was aware of the consequences of his act despite the considerable alcohol consumption, and the verdict should also send a clear signal.
The young man had declared in court that he had right-wing extremist sentiments and admitted that he had smashed a window in the synagogue in Upper Franconia while he was drunk on New Year’s Eve 2023. Surveillance video shows him then trying to set off fireworks and throwing them into the synagogue. When that failed, he went on.
There were no people in the building at the time. The Munich public prosecutor’s office had attested to the 22-year-old’s “consolidated anti-Jewish and right-wing extremist mentality” and demanded a three-year prison sentence. The verdict is not yet legally binding.