Trial over murdered train conductor Serkan Çalar: Family wants his face shown
In the trial over beaten-to-death train conductor Serkan Çalar, the family is pushing for the victim to be at the centre—not just the alleged perpetrator.
Trial over murdered train conductor: Family wants his face shown
When Eray Çalar sees trains pass by on the railway line in front of his parents' house in Ludwigshafen today, he finds it agonising. His older brother Serkan used to call sometimes and say: "I'll be on that train in a moment." Today it breaks their mother's heart when she sees passing carriages. "She thinks then about how her son got on a train and simply never came back," Eray Çalar recounts.
Serkan Çalar was a train conductor for Deutsche Bahn. In February of this year, he was beaten by a fare-dodging passenger during a ticket inspection in Rhineland-Palatinate and later succumbed to his injuries. The alleged perpetrator has been on trial in Zweibrücken since recently.
The family wants the victim to be at the centre—not just the defendant. They want everyone to know who Serkan was: a 36-year-old man who was doing his job and paid for it with his life. His relatives are campaigning for the public to see the face of the deceased and not just the alleged perpetrator.
The case has provoked nationwide outrage and reignited the debate over violence against railway staff. Like many colleagues, Serkan Çalar had previously had negative experiences with aggressive passengers.
Source: Süddeutsche Zeitung
Source: Süddeutsche Zeitung