German mayor’s attacker gets 2 years’ suspended sentence

BERLIN: A German court on Monday gave a 56-year-old man a two years’ suspended sentence for a knife attack on a town mayor known for his pro-refugee stance.

Werner S. was found guilty of grievous bodily harm and for threatening the mayor, but the court did not find sufficient evidence to convict him of attempted murder. The defendant had told the court that he did not plan to hurt the mayor, Andreas Hollstein, but simply scare him.

The assault in November shocked Germany, and reports initially said that the attacker was driven by anger against politicians for allowing more than a million asylum seekers into Germany since 2015. Hollstein said that the assailant had asked him if he was the mayor before pulling the knife. The attacker also told him: "You let me die of thirst and take in 200 refugees in Altena."