Hussein Khavari, who identified himself as an Afghan, has been sentenced to life imprisonment for the rape and murder of 19-year-old student Maria Ladenburger in Freiburg, Germany, in October 2016. The crime exacerbated existing tensions regarding Germany’s migrant policies.

Maria Ladenburger, a medical student active in refugee aid, was attacked returning from a party. She was raped, strangled, and left in the Dreisam River while still alive, where she ultimately drowned, as detailed by Judge Kathrin Schenk during the trial.

Khavari was apprehended following the crime, with his DNA matching evidence from the scene. Investigations after his arrest revealed he had previously been sentenced in Greece to a 10-year term for an attempted murder in 2014 but was released early in 2015 due to prison overcrowding. He then made his way to Germany via Austria, arriving undocumented and claiming to be a minor at 17 years old.

Placed with a foster family by Freiburg’s youth welfare office due to his unverified age and lack of prior records in European databases, it was later suggested during the trial through various medical assessments that Khavari might actually be Iranian and significantly older, potentially up to 32 years old. Consequently, he was tried as an adult.

The case had significant political repercussions in Germany, contributing to public and political backlash against Chancellor Angela Merkel’s migrant policy. This incident, among others, played a role in the rise of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which gained parliamentary representation for the first time, while Merkel’s CDU experienced a historic low in the elections.