Crime by foreign youth in spotlight

Two young men went on trial yesterday for beating up a pensioner at a German train station last year in a widely publicized assault which sparked a nationwide debate about crime by foreign juveniles.

Serkan A., a 21-year old Turk, and 18-year old Spyridon L., a Greek, are facing charges of attempted murder for beating and kicking a 76-year-old man, who had reprimanded them for smoking in the Munich subway. The assailants had shouted "Shit German" at the man before kicking him in the head.

At the beginning of the trial, the defendants' lawyers asked for the public to be excluded from the hearings, saying they wanted to avoid their clients becoming stigmatized. The court was to decide on the request later yesterday.