Court convicts 3 Germans of beating gay man to death

BERLIN – A court in the eastern German city of Chemnitz has convicted three men of manslaughter over the killing of a 27-year-old gay man.

The Chemnitz regional court on Friday sentenced 26-year-old Terenc H. to 14 years in prison, and 22-year-olds Stephan H. and Jens H. to 11 years each.

The men’s surnames weren’t released for privacy reasons.

The defendants were accused of brutally beating Christopher W. on a railroad yard in the nearby town of Aue last year, then putting the victim’s face up against the rim of a concrete well and kicking his head.

A gay rights group, LAG Queer Network Saxony, criticized the court for failing to sufficiently recognize the role the defendants’ far-right and homophobic views played in the killing.