Vigil at start of trial for German man who killed ex-wife
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}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)
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.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}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.