>From www.faz.com Neo-Nazis Accused of Murdering German-Iraqi Boy in Saxony =========================================== By Peter Carstens SEBNITZ. Three radical right-wingers were arrested this week on charges of killing a boy of German-Iraqi parentage three years ago at a public swimming pool packed with more than 200 onlookers who did nothing to save the helpless child. Following extensive inquiries by the parents and the delayed resumption of investigations by the authorities, Saxon police arrested the three suspects, two men and a women aged between 20 and 25 years, all residents of Sebnitz. The 6-year-old boy accidentally "drowned" on June 13, 1997, in the town's municipal pool, according to the initial official investigation. The Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper recently revealed that foul play was "absolutely ruled out" a year later by the chief state prosecutor in Dresden. According to the report, which will be released on Friday, the parents never believed that the death was the result of a mere bathing accident. And the boy's mother, Renate Kantelberg-Abdulla -- a representative of the Social Democratic Party on the town council -- recently said that the prosecutor's office in Pirna had stopped its investigation because the case "could not be solved." So the parents took the case into their own hands. According to their reconstruction of events based on new witness statements, the boy, Joseph visited the swimming pool in Sebnitz with his older sister, a town of roughly 10,000 residents along the Czech border, in the early afternoon. Just a few minutes after he arrived, about 50 youths -- who, from their appearance, could have been Neo-Nazis -- ripped his towel off him. In full view of several adults, they boy was forced to swallow a liquid, possibly a sedative. Residues of the drug "ritalin" were found during a second autopsy on the body, which was paid for by the parents in January. The dazed boy was then beaten, an observation confirmed by heavy bruising to the left ear that was overlooked during the first autopsy. Witnesses also said the boy was tortured with an electric shock instrument. Amid cries of "come on, throw him in," the semi-conscious boy was then thrown into the swimming pool, they say. Then, a number of Joseph's attackers trampled on the submerged body until it went limp. Ten minutes passed before the body was dragged out of the water. More than 200 people were at the swimming pool on that warm summer day. Attempts to resuscitate the child failed. An anonymous caller later confirmed the parents' initial suspicions that they should have pressed murder charges from the outset. The bereaved parents sent their evidence to a criminologist in Hannover, who produced a report urging a reinquiry into the death, finally forcing the state prosecutor to reopen the investigation. ________________________________________________________
