Assault of Ermyas Mulugeta

Ermyas Mulugeta was born in Ethiopia. He travelled to East Germany in 1988 on a scholarship and trained as an engineer, working from 2001 onwards at the Institute for Agricultural Engineering in , a suburb of Potsdam. Mulugeta was involved in an incident at a tram stop in Potsdam late on the evening of Easter Sunday, 16 April 2006. He was beaten up so badly he ended up in an artificially-induced coma for two weeks with a fractured skull. He was unable to remember what had happened, but he had called his wife at the time, and the answerphone message recorded racist abuse, so the incident was investigated as a hate crime. The next day, residents demonstrated in Potsdam against xenophobia, and there was a general outpouring of sympathy for Mulugeta. They were flown by helicopter to the Federal Prosecutor's Office in Karlsruhe and appeared at the Federal Court of Justice. The apparent racist motivation for the attack caused national controversy, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel said it was an "abscheuliche Verbrechen" (heinous crime). The Central Council of Jews in Germany responded to Schönbohm's comments by suggesting that "he desperately needs some private tutoring". ==Trial and aftermath==

The trial began on 7 February 2007 at Potsdam Regional Court. While giving evidence, Mulugeta spoke slowly and had gaps in his memory. It was suggested that, like the two men, Mulugeta had also been drunk and that he had been the one who had started the confrontation. Mulugeta had called the two attackers "pigs". The charges against the two men were then dropped for lack of evidence on 15 June 2007; In 2007, Mulugeta set up a foundation called (Lionheart) to teach schoolchildren about diversity. He then completed a PhD at the University of Rostock on the theme of optimization of the washing procedure for vegetables and potatoes (Optimierung des Waschprozesses für Gemüse und Speisekartoffeln). Mulugeta stood for office in 2019 on behalf of the Pirate Party Germany in the district of Potsdam-Mittelmark; he also stood in local council elections in Borkheide. ==References==