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Eva Leitolf
Beach, Heringsdorf
[German Images - Looking for Evidence 2006-2008]
2007
C-print
66.5 x 53.5 cm (image) 81 x 69 cm (sheet)
Provided by the artist - Eva Leitolf
LL/37694
In the night of 29-30 July 2004 a group of local men and women assaulted a group of teenagers from Berlin who were listening to music on the beach. One of the victims had to spend five days in a Berlin hospital being treated for bruising to the ribs and back, concussion and craniocerebral trauma. According to a report in the local newspaper, the victim's lawyer criticised that it had taken more than a year for the results of the investigation to be passed to the state prosecutor, and that charges had not been brought until 4 April 2006. This case, he said, gave 'encouragement to Nazi thugs' because it gave them the impression that they 'could get away with it'. At the trial witnesses reported that a dark skinned girl belonging to the group from Berlin had been called a 'negro slut' during the attack, and victim support groups said it was a racist attack. The court found no evidence that the perpetrators had a right-wing political background and decided that the loud music the victims had been listening to had been the motive for the crime. On 30 November 2006 a juvenile court found two of the perpetrators guilty of grievous bodily harm. One was sentenced to one hundred hours of community service, the other ordered to pay compensation of 1,700 Euro to the main victim.
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