Prosecutors want life sentence for killing of German student

BERLIN – Prosecutors are demanding a life sentence for an Afghan migrant on trial in Germany for the rape and killing of a 19-year-old medical student in October 2016.

Chief prosecutor Eckart Berger told Freiburg’s regional court Friday that the defendant should also be imprisoned beyond the usual 15-year life term in Germany.

Hussein K., whose last name was withheld in line with German privacy laws, told the court last year that he pulled Maria Ladenburger from her bicycle, raped her and dumped her unconscious in the Dreisam river, where she drowned.

K., who entered Germany in 2015, claimed he was 18 at the time of the crime. An expert report and witness statements put his age at 22 — old enough for an adult life sentence.