A man will be in court in Hamburg from Tuesday: he is said to have shot his pregnant, Muslim neighbor.
In Hamburg, a woman was lucky: the shots from her right-hand neighbor did not hit her (symbolic image) Photo: Florian Schuh/dpa
HAMBURG taz | Aliya Malik*’s life could have ended on May 27th. And an unborn life could have ended with her. At 9:45 p.m. that Saturday, Ulf M. shot the pregnant woman through the closed apartment door with a rifle. The Muslim woman was lucky that her right-wing neighbor didn’t meet her. The trial begins this afternoon in the Large Criminal Chamber of the Hamburg Regional Court. The prosecution’s accusation: attempted murder.
The “Advice for those affected by right-wing, racist and anti-Semitic violence” – in short: Empower – fears that the political dimension of the crime may receive too little attention. The fear is not without reason: some media initially portrayed the attack as a neighborhood dispute. Ulf M. is also said to have often sought arguments with some neighbors.
Not alone with the then 24-year-old, with whom the perpetrator lived in the apartment building on Tibarg in the Niendorf district. However, the person affected was not alone in reporting ongoing racist insults and threats, says Nissar Gardi from Empower. Other neighbors later also told the media that the defendant was always loud attracted attention through racist and right-wing extremist statements. The 48-year-old is said to have not only harassed the woman.
Empower accompanies the 24-year-old. Ulf M. bullied his neighbor for years. She informed the landlord without success. She is also said to have reported Ulf M. for coercion. That Saturday evening, Ulf M. shot several times through the door of the ground floor apartment. The victim was in the apartment with her mother-in-law. The mother-in-law was also lucky. She remained unhurt.
Hitler picture and dagger with SS engraving
Malik called 911. Several police car crews as well as special forces rushed to the house in the second row of the supposedly quiet neighborhood. The police were able to arrest the perpetrator without a confrontation. Malik was taken to hospital as a precaution.
During the subsequent search of Ulf M.’s apartment, the police not only seized the suspected murder weapon, other firearms and a knife. They also discovered right-wing paraphernalia. They found a picture of Adolf Hitler and a dagger with SS runes engraved on it. NPD and AfD material is also said to have been discovered, as well as documents on the Ku Klux Klan.
Ten years ago, Ulf M. ordered from the right-wing extremist mail order company “Hatecore Lüneburg,” reports the Hamburg Alliance Against the Right (HBgR). The finds and evidence point to a right-wing extremist worldview that took a long time to form and consolidate.
However, the arrest of Ulf M., who was taken into custody, did not provide any relief for Malik. “She suffers from stress disorders,” Gardi tells the taz.
Similar cases receive little attention
The police gave her the contact details for Empower, but there was no quick further help from the state. “It cannot be the case that support for the health and material consequences of such acts has to be fought for repeatedly by those affected themselves,” says Gardi. The speaker also points out that it is “a worrying signal to those affected “Right-wing, racist and anti-Semitic violence” is “when these incidents receive little attention in public, civil society and politics”.
Support means taking the incidents seriously, said Gardi. The HBgR therefore calls for “solidarity in the process”. “We still miss the public outcry that there was a right-wing murder attempt in Hamburg,” says Kim Uhrig from the alliance and adds: “We ask ourselves why in 2023 a clearly right-wing motive for the crime will not immediately be recognized as such.”
The court has scheduled nine days of hearings until next year. Despite the burden, Malik is a co-plaintiff.
*Name changed
