German pair to be caned, jailed for vandalizing Singapore train
Print Edition
A Singapore court yesterday sentenced two Germans to nine months in prison and three strokes of the cane after they pleaded guilty to breaking into a depot and spray-painting graffiti on a commuter train carriage.
Andreas Von Knorre, 22, and Elton Hinz, 21, expressed remorse while being sentenced.
鈥淭his is the darkest episode of my entire life,鈥 said Von Knorre.
鈥淚 want to apologize to the state of Singapore for the stupid act ... I鈥檝e learned my lesson and will never do it again.鈥
Hinz said: 鈥淚 promise I will never do it again. I want to apologize to you, and my family for the shame and situation I鈥檝e put them into.鈥
Both men were dressed in prison uniform 鈥 a white T-shirt and brown trousers with the word 鈥淧risoner鈥 down the sides and on the back. They spoke to the court in English.
Singapore sentences hundreds of prisoners to canings each year as part of a system that has been criticized by rights groups. Vandalism and over-staying by foreigners are offenses that can be punished by caning along with other crimes like kidnapping, robbery, drug abuse and sexual assault.
The United States State Department said 2,203 caning sentences were carried out in 2012, including 1,070 foreigners caned for committing immigration offenses.
鈥淭he Singapore judicial system鈥檚 shameful recourse to using torture 鈥 in the form of caning 鈥 to punish crimes that should be misdemeanors is indicative of a blatant disregard for international human rights standards,鈥 said Phil Robertson, deputy director of the Asia division of Human Rights Watch.
鈥淥ne defendant said that sentencing day was the darkest day of his life, but in reality every day that Singapore keeps caning on its books is a dark day,鈥 he said.
A German foreign ministry official said the government respected the sovereignty of Singapore.
鈥淏ut it speaks out against corporal punishment as a form of sentence worldwide 鈥 and that means in Singapore,鈥 he said.
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