Hamburg trial tests German law after US child’s suicide linked to murder charge

HAMBURG, Jan 9 (Reuters) - The trial of a 21-year-old man accused of forcing children and teenagers to self-harm and commit sexual acts online, leading to ​a 13-year-old boy taking his own life in the United States, began behind ‌closed doors in Hamburg on Friday.

The trial - which is being held in private due to the age and ‌vulnerability of the victims - marks a precedent in Germany as the first time someone has gone on trial for murder in a suicide that occurred in a different jurisdiction.

The defendant, who allegedly used the online pseudonym "White Tiger," faces charges including one count of murder and five ⁠counts of attempted murder, according ‌to the prosecution.

The defendant is accused of 204 offences committed between January 2021 and September 2023 against more than 30 victims.

The trial is ‍scheduled to run until December, with 82 hearings planned. No verdict is expected this year.

If found guilty, the defendant can only be sentenced to between 6 months and 10 years in prison due ​to the fact that he was a minor at the time the crimes were ‌committed, Judge Marayke Frantzen said shortly before the trial started on Friday.

A murder usually carries a 15-year sentence in Germany.

Also speaking ahead of the trial, defence lawyer Christiane Yueksel said that the fact that her client was being accused of indirectly committing a murder and other crimes "is a construct that is factually incorrect and cannot be proven."

Authorities allege the ⁠defendant led a group of cybercriminals named "764" that ​targeted children aged 11 to 15 across Germany, Canada, ​Finland and the United States, coercing them to self-harm and recording the acts for blackmail.

Prosecutors say the accused made particularly vulnerable children emotionally dependent ‍on him via social ⁠media, exploiting this trust to produce child sexual abuse material and escalate the level of harm.

The case was launched after a tip-off from the FBI, which was ⁠investigating the death by suicide of the teenage boy in the United States.

Hamburg police arrested the suspect ‌in his parents' home last summer.

(Reporting by Jonas Walzberg, writing by Friederike Heine ‌and Kirsti Knolle, Editing by William Maclean)