A German court has sentenced a 37-year-old man to life in prison for the murder of 9-year-old Ukrainian refugee Valeria.
This is what Tagesspiegel and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung write about.
The court also ruled that the crime was particularly serious, effectively making it impossible for the convict to be released early after 15 years in prison.
The convicted person is a Moldovan citizen, the ex-wife of the murdered girlʼs mother; they were in a relationship for about three months.
The girlʼs father, who serves in the Ukrainian army, was present at the hearing. He was allowed to travel to Germany for the trial, where he was a co-plaintiff.
Murder of a 9-year-old Ukrainian girl in Germany
Nine-year-old Valeria disappeared on June 3, 2024 — she left home to take the bus to school, but never showed up at school. The school did not raise the alarm, so the girlʼs mother only noticed her disappearance in the evening. She notified the police at around 6:30 p.m. that same day.
After more than a week of searching, the body of a child was found in a forest near the town of Döbeln. It was discovered about three kilometers from Valeriaʼs family home. Later, German police confirmed that it was the body of the missing girl. Law enforcement officers investigated the murder and suspected two men: her mother Nadiyaʼs ex-boyfriend (Moldovan citizen Andriy), as well as her pursuer (50-year-old Ukrainian Hennadii). The latter, as the tabloid Bild later wrote, had an alibi.
The girl and her mother have lived in Germany since 2022. Valeriaʼs parents are divorced, her father serves at the front. After the childʼs disappearance, he was given leave and allowed to go to Germany.
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