Two brothers from Afghanistan are said to have killed their 34-year-old sister in Berlin because her life did not correspond to their moral standards.

The two urgently suspected men, 22 and 25 years old, have been in custody since August 4th, as the public prosecutor's office and the Berlin police announced on Friday.

Both are said to have killed their sister "out of an offended sense of honor" on July 13th.

On the same day, they packed the body in a suitcase, took it by train to the 25-year-old brother's place of residence in Bavaria, and buried it.

Markus Wehner

Political correspondent in Berlin.

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After joint investigations with the Bavarian police, the Berlin homicide squad was able to find a woman's body on Thursday in a field near Donauwörth, who is probably the suspect's sister. An autopsy should clarify the identity, cause of death and details of the crime. The mother of two children was initially reported missing.

The police quickly learned of tension between the brothers and their sister, who had entered into a relationship that contradicted the brothers' moral standards. The images from a surveillance camera at Berlin's Südkreuz train station, which were evaluated by the police, then showed the two men as they were leaving for Bavaria with a large, heavily loaded suitcase. The brother who lived there is said to have traveled to Berlin shortly before the crime. Using radio cell evaluations and witness statements, the police were able to confirm the suspicion that it was a homicide crime, so that the Berlin public prosecutor obtained an arrest warrant.

The accused are said to have not confessed to the offense during interrogation, but to have become involved in contradictions. One brother came to Germany in 2015, the other two years earlier. "Honor killings" are the killing of a family member, usually women or homosexual men, by relatives as a punishment for violating cultural or family norms. The deed is intended to avert the “shame” that threatens the family. “Honor killings” are frequent in some Islamic countries, but also occur sporadically in European countries with a high proportion of immigrants from the corresponding states.