In the United States, the criminal trial of the Pittsburgh anti-Semitic mass murderer ended on Friday with a guilty verdict. Almost five years after a deadly attack on a synagogue in the US city, the shooter has been found guilty on all 63 charges. The jury convicted the 50-year-old, among other things, of hate crimes resulting in death.
On October 27, 2018, he shot and killed eight men and three women at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. The right-wing extremist had previously pleaded “guilty” – he now faces the death penalty. In order to determine the level of punishment, the procedure goes into a second part, which could last several weeks.
At the trial, prosecutors cited numerous anti-Semitic hate texts from social media that Bowers had posted. According to media reports, the perpetrator was particularly agitated about the Jewish refugee aid organization HIAS. Surviving Rabbi Jeffrey Myers said in the newspaper Pittsburgh Post Gazette, he is grateful to the police and the judiciary. Police officers saved him and the prosecutor “defended my right to pray in court”.
The American Jewish Congress declared that justice had been done with the verdict, although it could not alleviate the suffering of the bereaved. Assassination victims include Joyce Fienberg, 75, Richard Gottfrie, 65, Rose Mallinger, 97, Daniel Stein, 71, Melvin Wax, 87, Irving Younger, 69, Jerry Rabinowitz, 66, Bernice Simon, 84, Sylvan Simon, 87, as well Cecil Rosenthal, 59, and David Rosenthal, 54. The mass murder is considered the deadliest anti-Semitic act in US history.