The Jewish Student Lahav Shapira was in hospital for several days and suffered several broken bones in his nose, eye socket and cheek. The Berlin public prosecutor’s office has now filed charges against the alleged attacker at the Tiergarten district court. They accuse 23-year-old Mustafa A. of grievous bodily harm, he is said to have attacked Shapira on February 2nd for anti-Semitic reasons. This could even have an aggravating effect on the sentence.
The 23-year-old German citizen of Palestinian origin met Shapira on February 2 in a bar on Rosenthaler Platz in Mitte. When Shapira left the bar, Mustafa A. followed him and confronted him about an argument at the Free University (FU) about the Middle East conflict. According to the prosecution, Shapira’s pro-Israeli and pro-Jewish commitment was “decisive for the physical attack” after the Islamist Hamas terrorist attack on Israel on October 7.
A. is said to have punched Shapira in the face without warning, causing the 30-year-old to fall to the ground. When Shapira tried to get up, the “accused with martial arts experience” is said to have kicked him in the face. The result was a complex mid-face fracture and a brain hemorrhage.
The Tiergarten District Court still has to accept the charges, which is expected to happen in October. If the court accepts the charge of dangerous bodily harm, A. faces a prison sentence of between six months and ten years.
The case was the reason for the black-red coalition, to tighten the Berlin University Act. Now it is again possible for students to be expelled for certain breaches of regulations. However, there are high hurdles to overcome, for example in the case of a legally binding conviction. A breach of regulations occurs when a student in relation to the university “significantly impairs a member of the university in the exercise of his rights and duties by using physical violence, by inciting physical violence or by threatening physical violence.”
The FU banned A. from the university in the spring and extended this ban. However, the 23-year-old left the FU on his own and had himself exmatriculated.
