Police secure the synagogue in Halle, Germany, after a shooting that left two dead on October 9, 2019. -

Robert Michael / dpa / AFP

The perpetrator of a synagogue attack in Germany last year, which came close to becoming the country's worst post-war anti-Semitic bombing, was sentenced to life in prison on Monday, a decision hailed by several Jewish organizations.

Stephan Balliet, a 28-year-old German who repeatedly claimed to be anti-Semitic during the trial, was convicted of two murders and several dozen attempted murders during his attack on a synagogue in Halle (Saxony-Anhalt) in the middle of the religious holiday of Yom Kippur, October 9, 2019.

"You are dangerous for humanity"

The president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Josef Schuster, said in a statement that the verdict was "an important day for Germany".

The World Jewish Congress (WJC) has expressed its "satisfaction" to him.

Speaking of a "heinous, cowardly and inhuman act", the president of the Magdeburg court, Ursula Mertens, explained that the accused shared "anti-Semitic, racist and misogynistic motives".

"You are dangerous for humanity", she blurted out to justify the maximum prison sentence, accompanied by a minimum preventive detention of 15 years at the end of which it will however be very difficult to obtain a liberation.

Throughout the three hours of explanations of the verdict by the president, the man with the shaved head dressed in black and wearing a scarf, however, remained stoic.

Like the twenty-six days of hearing, Stephan Balliet did not show any emotion.

His lawyer, Hans-Dieter Weber, regretted his client's lack of empathy, however, reserving the right to appeal.

A "massacre" avoided

Armed to the teeth and dressed in a military fatigues, this Internet autoradicalized, asocial, had in October 2019, stormed the synagogue of Halle, where there were 52 faithful.

Unable to enter due to resistance from the door, he attacked passers-by, killing a woman in the street and then a young man in a kebab restaurant, targeted for his customers he thought foreign.

The victim, Kevin S., was a 20-year-old German.

"Without this famous armored door, he would have committed a massacre," said Ursula Mertens.

The accused was inspired by Brenton Tarrant, the author of the bloody racist attacks (51 dead) committed a few months earlier against two mosques in Christchurch in New Zealand, who had broadcast his crimes live, which he also made.

Throughout his trial, Stephan Balliet never expressed the slightest remorse and, on several occasions, had to be called to order by the president of the tribunal for his conspiratorial, racist, misogynistic and denial-of-expression remarks.

He even claimed responsibility for his actions.

Attacking the synagogue "was not a mistake" because "they are my enemies", he said.

"Good signal"

"We are relieved that it stops today, it was long enough and trying," said Mark Lupschitz, lawyer for nine civil parties, thanking the court for not having made the trial a showcase for the extremist of right.

Recalling that this attack had been "one of the most disgusting anti-Semitic acts since World War II", Federal Prosecutor Kai Lohse considered that the court had "sent the right signal", hoping that this trial "will serve as an example ".

After his double murder, Stephan Balliet was arrested following a chase with the police, during which he injured several other people.

Ursula Mertens recalled that he certainly suffered from a "complex personality disorder" mixing "schizophrenia, paranoia and autistic characteristics" but that he was however fully responsible for his actions: "killing is not allowed in Germany, you must at least know it since you had your baccalaureate, ”she quipped.

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