The acts of violence have been a topic on social media for days. Now there is sad certainty: The victim – a 25-year-old trans man – did not survive the attack on him on the sidelines of Christopher Street Day in Münster.
The police arrested a 20-year-old suspect on Friday, and he is to be brought before the magistrate on Saturday. So far, he has not commented on the allegation, said senior public prosecutor Dirk Ollech. The public prosecutor wants to apply for an arrest warrant for bodily harm resulting in death.
According to the police report, the victim – according to “taz” his name is Malte C. – had been crushed, apparently when he was trying to protect other participants from homophobic insults.
According to the police and prosecutors, the suspect at the CSD meeting on August 27 first insulted several women with the words “lesbian whore” and approached them threateningly. The 25-year-old noticed the situation and asked the man to refrain from insults, it said. But he struck, suddenly, at least once with his fist.
The 25-year-old fell to the ground and unhappily hit his head on the asphalt, said a spokesman for the public prosecutor’s office. He was hospitalized, later placed in an induced coma, and died early Friday morning. The body will be autopsied on Monday.
Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) was dismayed by the death of the 25-year-old. She tweeted: “A young man is beaten to death for wanting to help others. on one
The case had sparked nationwide concern. Numerous Internet users from the LGTBTQ scene have published articles and comments on this, for example on Twitter, and the case is repeatedly referred to as an openly homophobic hate crime. “Queer and transphobic violence can be deadly. Speak up against it if you can,” wrote activist Jorinde Wiese.
Green leader Ricarda Lang also expressed her concern after the news of his death became known. “My thoughts are with the family and friends of the deceased. And to all queer people who feel insecure and threatened when reading messages like this. I’m very sorry,” she tweeted.
In a statement, the German lesbian and gay association indirectly criticized the way the authorities communicated. “We call on the investigating authorities to immediately name and classify this act as an anti-LGBTI hate crime,” the statement said.
The trigger for the attack was not the young man’s “conciliation efforts”, as stated in the joint press release by the Münster police and the public prosecutor’s office, but, quote, “the deeply inhuman attitude of the perpetrators”. The act in Münster also shows once again how much action plans against transphobia and homophobia are needed.
According to the reports, the victim was a trans man, and the “taz” also describes the 25-year-old as such in its report. This information was also confirmed by the group “Trans-Inter Münster” on their Facebook page. Malte C. therefore regularly visited a self-help group of the association.
According to the “taz”, Malte C. apparently wanted to help a group of lesbian women who had previously been homophobically insulted by the unknown passer-by. The 25-year-old suffered serious head injuries in the attack that followed and, according to the self-help group, was most recently in an artificial coma.