A German court in Essen sentenced four teenagers on Dec. 2 to 8.5 to 10 years in a youth detention center for murdering two Ukrainian basketball players earlier this year, according to German media outlet Tagesschau.
The victims, Volodymyr Yermakov, 17, and Artem Kozachenko, 18, were stabbed during an attack in Oberhausen in February. Yermakov died the same day in the hospital, while Kozachenko passed away 10 days later due to his injuries.
Yermakov and Kozachenko had fled to Germany in 2023 to escape Russia’s war in Ukraine. They joined the ART Giants basketball team in Düsseldorf.
What Happened
The attackers, aged 14 and 15 at the time, included two Syrians and two Germans. One of the German attackers also has Greek citizenship, according to DW.
The attack began on a bus when the group provoked a conflict with the two Ukrainian players for no apparent reason. After getting off the bus, they assaulted Yermakov and Kozachenko, beating them and stabbing them fatally.
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Court Findings
The trial took place behind closed doors in a juvenile court because of the perpetrators' ages.
Initially, prosecutors suspected the attack was motivated by xenophobia. However, the court found no evidence of this and ruled that the attackers were simply "looking for trouble," as reported by WDR.
One attacker admitted to using the knife, while the others confessed to taking part in the beating. Some of the perpetrators had previous criminal records, which were considered in the sentencing.
Two of the attackers were sentenced to 10 years in youth detention, and the other two received 8.5-year sentences.
Their defense lawyers plan to appeal the verdict.
