The mother of a 16-year-old Ukrainian refugee pushed to her death in front of a train by an Iraqi migrant has said she no longer believes in Germany’s justice system after he was spared prison and sent to a psychiatric hospital.
Liana K. was killed at Friedland station in Lower Saxony in August 2025 after Muhammed A., a 31-year-old rejected asylum seeker from Iraq, shoved her onto the tracks in front of a moving freight train.
The teenager, who had fled the war in Ukraine, had been speaking to her grandfather at the station moments before the attack.
A court in Göttingen ruled on Wednesday that Muhammed A. would be committed permanently to a secure psychiatric facility after prosecutors argued he suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and could not be held criminally responsible for murder.
DNA evidence linked him to Liana, with traces found on the teenager’s shoulder, prosecutors said.
Her mother, Alisa K., reacted angrily after the ruling, telling Junge Freiheit she had wanted the man who killed her daughter to be jailed for life.
“How am I supposed to feel? I feel terrible. Now he’s going to a psychiatric hospital. I wanted my daughter’s murderer to go to prison. It should be a sentence with no possibility of ever being released,” she said.
She added that she had pulled herself together for the sake of her daughter and was now prepared to continue the legal fight.
“Yes, I intend to appeal. I disagree with the court’s decision. If necessary, I am prepared to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights and any other court of appeal to achieve justice not only for my Liana, but also for all other victims whose perpetrators have so far gone unpunished,” she said.
The case has intensified anger over Germany’s asylum and deportation system after it emerged Muhammed A. had no legal right to remain in the country.
He arrived in Germany in 2022 and applied for asylum, but his claim was rejected. He had been subject to an enforceable deportation order since March 2025 and was living at the Friedland asylum center at the time of the killing.
Weeks before Liana’s death, he was in custody in Hanover and was due to be transferred to Lithuania, the EU country through which he first entered the bloc. However, a court rejected his deportation and he was released back into Lower Saxony. Liana was killed three weeks later.
Alisa K. said victims’ families were left to bear the financial burden of legal action while the perpetrator’s costs were covered.
“Unfortunately, all of the perpetrator’s court costs are covered, while we – I mean us as the affected parties, as victims – have to bear all of this ourselves. We don’t have the necessary funds and are therefore forced to ask ordinary citizens and the public for donations to cover the court costs,” she said.
Asked whether she still believed in the German rule of law, she replied, “No, I no longer believe in the German justice system.”
“Here, people are severely punished for illegal parking or improper waste disposal, but murderers are sent to psychiatric hospitals so they can recover at the expense of normal, honest citizens who dutifully pay their taxes,” she added.
Alternative for Germany (AfD) co-leader Alice Weidel criticized the decision earlier this year after prosecutors signaled they would seek psychiatric detention rather than a prison sentence, a move now rubber-stamped by the courts.
“The Iraqi who was subject to deportation at the time of the crime and who killed Liana by pushing her in front of a freight train will go unpunished,” Weidel wrote on X. “No deterrent judgment, no imprisonment followed by deportation — instead, the taxpayer has to foot the bill for the perpetrator’s accommodation in a psychiatric hospital. This is a scandal!”
Muhammed A. first entered the European Union illegally through Lithuania in August 2021, where he applied for asylum and claimed he was gay and feared execution in Iraq. His application was rejected twice.
Germany later filed a Dublin request to return him to Lithuania, but the process was delayed by legal challenges. He had also previously come to the attention of authorities. In November 2024, he was convicted of an exhibitionistic act after approaching a woman, putting his arm around her, unzipping his pants, and exposing himself. He was fined, but the penalty was too low to trigger the kind of criminal record that could have further affected his immigration status.
Liana’s mother said the case had left her fearful for her surviving children and demanded that the German government change course.
“The situation has gotten to the point where I’m afraid for my other children when they go anywhere without me,” she said.
“I want to say to the government: Open your eyes and reconsider your priorities! Because with this attitude, you’re destroying your own country! We must finally protect our children and create a safe world for them.”
