Cologne mob sex attackers could face deportation
The perpetrators of mob sex attacks and muggings in the city of Cologne on New Year's Eve could face deportation if they are migrants, Germany's justice minister said Thursday, according to CNN.
Germany has been shocked by the apparently coordinated crime wave in the center of the city in western Germany on New Year's Eve, in which scores of women reported being sexually assaulted or robbed by gangs of men of Arab or North African appearance.
Cologne police spokeswoman Stefanie Becker told CNN on Thursday that more than 121 criminal complaints have been filed relating to the mass assaults, including two accounts of rape, while 16 suspects have been identified but not charged.
That night, police kept encountering women and girls in tears, German news organization Spiegel Online reported, citing an internal federal police report.
"Women in company or who were on their own had to run the gauntlet through an inebriated mass of men," the police report read.
Groups of men prevented police from reaching people crying out for help, Spiegel Online said. The men threatened anyone who might try to identify them.
Similar attacks were reported in other German cities on New Year's Eve, with more than 50 similar incidents reported in the northern city of Hamburg.
The attacks have sparked outrage in Germany, prompting angry protests and fueling public debate about the wisdom of Germany's welcoming stance to migrants.
Police have not confirmed to CNN whether the suspects identified so far are asylum seekers, and government officials have warned against scapegoating migrants.
But German Justice Minister Heiko Maas said Thursday that people found guilty could be deported if they were seeking asylum.
"The law allows for people to be deported during asylum proceedings if they're sentenced to a year or more in prison, and that's possible with sexual offenses," he said.
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