German skinheads deny murder intent

Angelika at her husband's grave with a German official

Three neo-Nazi Germans on trial for fatally attacking an African immigrant told a court on Wednesday that they had not meant to kill their victim.

The three confessed that they had beaten and kicked Alberto Adriano, 39, until he was no longer moving in a park in Dessau, a city in eastern Germany, but denied that they had intended to kill him.

We will not let the rebuilding [of east Germany] be destroyed by rightist thugs

Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder

They said they attacked the father of three on 11 June because they hated foreigners, a court spokesman said.

The trial - which is closed to the public as two of the defendants are under 16 years old - has increased concerns about racist violence and the extreme-right movement.

In a sign that it is determined to tackle the problem, the German Government has taken the unusual step of assigning the case to the chief federal prosecutor, Kay Nehm, who normally handles terrorist cases.

No remorse

The defendants - Frank Miethbauer and Christian Richter, both 16, and Enrico Hilprecht, 24 - showed no remorse in court as the trial opened on Tuesday.

Miethbauer,16, has a Hitler-style moustache

Mr Richter grinned as the indictment describing the attack was read out.

Their lack of emotion so shocked Mr Adriano's German widow, Angelika - who faced the accused for the first time on Tuesday - that she left the court.

"What was shocking for her and me was that there was not the slightest sense of remorse, not one word of apology" said Ronald Reimann, the family's lawyer.

According to the indictment, the men had been parading drunk through Dessau's streets, shouting neo-Nazi slogans.

Witnesses testified on Tuesday that the assailants shouted "Negro pig" and "Blacks out" at Mr Adriano, who came to Germany 12 years ago as a student from Mozambique.

Angelika is scheduled to testify on Wednesday

Mr Hilprecht alone kicked Mr Adriano 10 times in the head with his jackboots.

They later stripped their victim, ripped off his wristwatch and assaulted him again. They did not stop until a police car arrived.

Mr Adriano died of brain injuries three days later.

Mr Hilprecht could spend at least 15 years in jail if convicted, while the juveniles face a maximum of 10 years imprisonment.

Other attacks

The attack was particularly shocking, but there have been other racist attacks in recent months.

One of the accused led into the building with handcuffs

This week, three men were arrested for kicking and beating an African man in Barmstedt, north of Hamburg.

And nine skinheads, all aged under 21 years, were convicted on Tuesday in Bochum of shouting "Heil Hitler!" and molesting foreigners.

"Many judges have not yet realised the extent and the structures of right-wing extremism," said Cem Ozdemir, a Turkish-born member of parliament for the Greens party.

Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has said that such incidents are casting a bad light on the country.

"We will not let the rebuilding [of east Germany] be destroyed by rightist thugs," Mr Schroeder said on Monday.