Dresden. The event came as a shock to many – to those who witnessed it and to those who tried desperately to help the man who suddenly burst into flames next to the state parliament building on February 12th.
He had set himself on fire. All rescue attempts were unsuccessful, and the man died a little later in a Dresden clinic. In the meantime, the Dresden police have clarified that the dead man was a 49-year-old from Turkey who had lived in the Briesnitz district.
So far, she has not commented on the motive or the reasons for the suicide. But who was the man? And why did he set himself on fire?
Came to Dresden as a refugee from Turkey
Halil S. is said to have been born in Siirt, Southeast Anatolia. That is what at least one Turkish news agency affiliated with the Kurdish Workers’ Party PKK reported earlier this week. S. was an avowed supporter of the organization classified as terrorist by the protection of the constitution.
The Kurd fled to Germany over 20 years ago because his family was politically persecuted in Turkey. Several of his relatives are said to have been murdered there. He was granted asylum in 2001 and has since lived in Dresden, where, according to acquaintances, he initially worked in the construction industry. In his free time, Halil S. spent a lot of time in a Kurdish club in the Pieschen district.
The Kurdish family did not have a partner, children or family members, according to Halil S. Instead, he devoted all of his time to promoting the PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, imprisoned in Turkey, among his fellow citizens with Kurdish roots .
Multiple prison sentences, most recently in 2011
As a result, S. repeatedly came into conflict with the law. Because he did political work for the PKK and its successor organizations such as Kongra El, he was sentenced to several prison terms. His last trial, which the Sächsische Zeitung reported in 2011, took place before the Dresden Regional Court.
At the end of 2009, the court found that S. had collected around 20,000 euros in donations for the banned groups. As the person responsible for the Dresden area, he also sold magazines or tickets for events organized by the illegal organizations, the verdict said.
In 2011 he was sentenced to nine months’ imprisonment by the State Protection Chamber of the Regional Court for “violating an association law prohibition of activities”. The investigative authorities had previously monitored the PKK supporter in his own apartment by video. In the end, the fact that S. had immediately returned to work immediately after he was released from the execution of his last relevant prison sentence was assessed as an increase in punishment.
Halil S. was known in Dresden
In 2010 Halil S.’s defense attorney, Waltraut Verleih, testified to the SZ that Halil S. was in poor health. In 2016, according to acquaintances, S. had a serious car accident and has not been able to work since then.
Halil S. was a very familiar face within the Kurdish community in Dresden. Last Tuesday, around 150 Kurds, mostly living in Dresden, gathered for a memorial hour behind the state parliament.
