A Turkish man was sentenced Tuesday to twelve years in prison by German courts for trying to kidnap his four-year-old daughter who lived in Germany with her mother at Hamburg airport.
Aged 35, he was found guilty of hostage-taking, kidnapping of minors, violation of the law on the possession of weapons, said a spokeswoman for the Hamburg court.
Occurring at the beginning of last November, this kidnapping attempt hit the headlines because it led to the suspension of air traffic in Hamburg for several hours, the father having parked his car on the tarmac in the hope of flying away with his child for Turkey.
In announcing the verdict, the judge underlined the particularly traumatic consequences for the mother and child of the father’s actions, said the court spokesperson.
He admitted the facts but put his actions into perspective, believing that he was within his rights.
The father had kidnapped the little girl who lived with her mother in Stade, a town near Hamburg, then went to the airport of this town, where he forced entry, armed with a pistol and explosive devices .
Parked on the tarmac, he threw two Molotov cocktails and fired several times into the air, before the German police began long negotiations to try to reason with him.
After about 18 hours, the man, who was wearing a fake explosive belt and a knife, surrendered to the police and handed over his daughter unharmed.
A year earlier, he had already taken his daughter with him to Turkey for several months without having the right to do so. The girl’s mother managed to get her back. The father was then fined.
