This summer, the violent death of 15-year-old Anastasia from Salzgitter left many people stunned. The trial starting today should not be an everyday procedure - a 14-year-old is accused of insidious murder at the Braunschweig Regional Court.

Together with a 13-year-old classmate, the accused is said to have suffocated the youngster on June 19 on an overgrown property in the Salzgitter-Fredenberg district and hidden her body in a bush. The public prosecutor's office accuses him of having killed the girl "acting jointly with a person under criminal jurisdiction". The Juvenile Criminal Court negotiates behind closed doors.

Boys are said to have planned the act

From the start, the investigators kept a low profile with information about a possible motive and the exact course of events. According to the published findings, the three knew each other from school and occasionally met in their free time for walks and to talk. The two boys are said to have been planning to kill the 15-year-old since around mid-May.

"The subsequent victim was affectionate towards the 14-year-old and saw in him a trustworthy friend who liked her," prosecutors said when the indictment was brought in November. According to the prosecution, it could not be finally clarified why the boys killed their classmate. Two days after the crime, the body of Anastasia, who had previously been reported missing by her relatives, was discovered. The horror of the cruel act was followed by a moving funeral service with great sympathy for the young victim.

According to the court, the accused was still 14 years old at the start of the trial. His defense attorney is quoted in advance by the "Spiegel" as saying: "I will demand an acquittal for my client in court because he is innocent and did not kill the victim himself."

Accomplices not of criminal responsibility at the time of the offence

A total of 13 hearing dates are scheduled. According to current planning, a verdict could come at the end of February. The accused then faces a maximum prison sentence of ten years under juvenile criminal law. The alleged accomplice was not yet of criminal age at the time of the crime and was placed in a psychiatric clinic with the consent of his parents.

According to the public prosecutor's office, the victim and the alleged perpetrators have a Russian migration background. The 15-year-old was a Russian national, the alleged perpetrators have German and Russian nationality.