Vigil at start of trial for German man who killed ex-wife

Representatives of a women's shelter in Hamburg stand at a vigil for a woman killed with a banner with the inscription "# keine mehr" in front of the criminal justice building in Hamburg, Germany, Tuesday, May 21, 2019. Almost six months after the deadly stabbing of a mother of four in Hamburg's Altona-Nord district, a trial against her husband began on Tuesday. In December 2018, the 50-year-old defendant is said to have used a knife to inflict 50 stab wounds and cuts on his wife, who lives separately from him, in her apartment. (Christian Charisius/dpa via AP)

BERLIN – Women's rights activists in Germany have staged a vigil for a woman slain by her ex-husband last year amid anger that he isn't tried for murder.

Members of a Hamburg women's shelter remembered the 42-year-old victim, a mother of four, outside the city's regional court where Marc H. went on trial Tuesday.

The defendant, whose surname wasn't released for privacy reasons, is accused of stabbing his ex-wife 50 times with a knife at her apartment last December.

Prosecutors have charged him with manslaughter. They say that by law, he can't be charged with murder because the victim was aware of the 50-year-old's violent record. The man had previously attacked her by strangling and using an electric shock device.

Activists say cases like this show the law needs changing.