Minister Calls for Tougher Penalties After Several Women Killed in Brandenburg

Brandenburg's justice minister has rejected the idea that domestic violence and the killing of women because they are women should become accepted as normal. Benjamin Grimm said the state would expand prevention, pursue new approaches and seek tougher penalties after several attacks in a short period.

The recent cases include the deaths of an 18-year-old student and a 30-year-old educator at a school in Gosen-Neu Zittau. A 19-year-old German man is suspected of killing both and faces allegations of double murder. Prosecutors say the student was his former girlfriend.

“

We will therefore continue to expand prevention, pursue new approaches and toughen the penalties for such acts.

In Erkner near Berlin, a woman died after a man allegedly attacked her in the street. In early August, a 19-year-old woman was found dead in her boyfriend's apartment in Hohen Neuendorf. Police said the suspected cause of death was sharp-force violence, and her boyfriend, also 19, is suspected of killing her.

“

There is zero tolerance for domestic violence.

Grimm supports examining whether femicide should fall under the legal murder criterion of base motives. The Federal Agency for Civic Education has said such killings are often not assessed adequately because the gender-based beliefs behind them are overlooked. Under German law, a murder criterion must be established for a killing to be classified as murder rather than manslaughter, which generally carries a more severe penalty.

Official figures cited by the justice ministry show 6,434 domestic-violence cases in Brandenburg last year. That was 5.2% lower than in 2024 but 9.3% higher than in 2021. Grimm welcomed federal plans to expand the use of electronic ankle bracelets, while calling for gender-based motives to be recorded more clearly and for greater psychosocial support.

“

I refuse to accept domestic violence and femicides as the new normal.