The politician brother of this German hitchhiker allegedly murdered by a Moroccan lorry driver, also pictured, has warned that her death should not be used by the far-right to stir up hate as the trial starts this week.
The body of 28-year-old German hitchhiker Sophia Loesche was found in Asparrena in northern Spain on 21st June last year, six days after she started hitchhiking from Leipzig in the Eastern German state of Saxony.
According to police sources, the body showed “clear signs of violence” and looked like someone had attempted to burn it to conceal the evidence.
Sophia had planned to hitchhike from Leipzig to her parents’ home in the Bavarian city of Amberg, but ended up murdered 1,000 miles away from her destination.
Spanish police arrested a 41-year-old Moroccan lorry driver identified only as Boujemaa L. on suspicion of murder.
Now this week Boujemaa L. is to appear in court in Bayreuth, a city in northern Bavaria, Germany facing murder charges. Seventeen witnesses have been called to the trial which is expected to last 12 days.
Sophia’s brother, Green Party district councillor Andreas Loesche, told German media this week: “We are hoping that the truth comes to light at the trial. I want to know all the details even if it is gruesome.”
The case made headlines all over Germany and her death was linked to asylum seekers as the arrested driver was of Moroccan origin.
Now her brother is warning that this case had nothing to do with asylum seekers, but was a case of violence against women.
He said: “We do not want Sophia’s murder to be used for xenophobic political purposes.”
Right-wing party AfD had used Sophia’s picture on banners in an anti-immigration demonstration last year.
Her brother said: “This was nothing to do with remembering Sophia or anyone else for that matter, it was a demonstration of hate and perfidy.”
Sophia herself had been politically engaged in campaigns against hate against foreigners.
The young victim regularly volunteered for the organisation “No Border Kitchen”, helping refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos.
One day after Sophia went missing, having not arrived in Amberg, her father went to report her disappearance at the police station.
Andreas said: “We were turned away. She had sent a message to friends that she was travelling in a lorry with a Moroccan driver. But she did not arrive in Amberg, the phone was switched off.
“We were really worried that something had happened to her.”
With the help of more than 80 volunteers, Andreas went searching himself for clues about the whereabouts of his sister.
He said: “Our Leipzig-Berlin team started off distributing leaflets at the car park at the Schkeuditz motorway junction.”
A Polish lorry driver then came forward saying he had seen Sophia.
Andreas said: “After pleading for a long time, the police then evaluated the images of a surveillance camera. After that, we knew the licence plate and what the lorry looked like and what the driver looked like.”
Sophia’s brother was the one who tracked down the lorry driver.
Investigators now assume that Sophia was probably already dead by this time.
When police officers evaluated the lorry’s GPS data, it showed that Boujemaa L. had stopped at Schkeuditz to take Sophia on board and later stopped for more than two hours at the Sperber rest area on the A9 Motorway.
Andreas said: “The authorities assume that the crime took place there.”
Boujemaa L. allegedly still drove for three days onward with Sophia’s body in his lorry.
Andreas said: “He was finally arrested just 250 miles from the ferry that was to take him to Morocco. If he had managed that, he would probably have disappeared.”
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Story By: Kathryn Quinn, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News
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