German prosecutors file murder charges in killing of Ukrainian soldiers

PHOTO CAPTION: Illustrative photo — German police are seen in Cologne, Germany, October 15, 2018. REUTERS/Thilo Schmuelgen

BERLIN (Reuters) - German prosecutors have filed murder charges against a Russian citizen on suspicion of stabbing to death two convalescing Ukrainian soldiers in southern Germany, they said on Wednesday.

The soldiers were found with serious stab wounds outside a shopping centre in the Bavarian town of Murnau am See in April, according to police. One of them, aged 36, died at the scene, while the other, 23, succumbed to his wounds in hospital.

A 57-year-old Russian citizen was arrested shortly after at home and he remains in custody in Munich, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said that the Russian man fully supported the war in Ukraine due to his excessive nationalism and was aware of the wartime service of the soldiers, whom he had met before.

According to prosecutors, the three were drinking together when an argument broke out about the situation in Ukraine that confirmed the Russian man's hostile stance toward the soldiers.

A regional jury court in Munich must now decide on the opening of the main proceedings, according to prosecutors.



(Writing by Miranda Murray; editing by Matthias Williams)