Chinese students in Germany becoming more vigilant

BERLIN - The verdict to an eye-catching case that involves brutal killing of a Chinese student in Germany delivered on Friday triggered mixed reactions among local Chinese students.

Although they held different views on the verdict, they all believed that raising safety awareness is very important in the future.

Li Yangjie, 25, a Chinese architecture student, went missing while jogging on the evening of May 11, 2016 in the city of Dessau-Rosslau, the third largest city in the Saxony-Anhalt region of Germany.

Her disfigured body was found abandoned in brush near the crime scene two days later before the police identified the then both 20-year-old male and female suspects.

On Friday, the local court of Dessau-Rosslau sentenced the rapist and murderer, Sebastian F. to lifelong imprisonment, and his accomplice Xenia I. to a youth penalty of five years and six months for sexual coercion.

According to investigators, the two lured Li to an empty apartment and then sexually assaulted and physically abused her. When they found Li was still alive, they carried the severely wounded victim away and abandoned her outside.

Li's attorney Peitzner condemned the perpetrators in an interview with Xinhua, "It's quite bad of what they did because they pretended to need help and Li just wanted to help them. She was a nice girl, and that's what they exploited, which makes it very bad."