The defendants had beaten and humiliated the girl on February 21. The crime was filmed via smartphone and disseminated on the Internet.
The hearing before a juvenile jury court took place behind closed doors. The group that abused the 13-year-old also included a girl of the same age. But since she is not criminally responsible, she could not be investigated, a spokesman for the authority explained. The state government had described the incident as "an extraordinary incident of violence" The crime of children and adolescents in Schleswig-Holstein has risen sharply.