The Iraqi convicted of the murder of Munich fashion tsar Rudolph Moshammer is deported to his country of origin after 18 years in Germany. The deportation is in progress, the plane with the 43-year-old on board is taking off from Frankfurt Airport to Baghdad, a spokesman for the Federal Police told the German Press Agency.

The fashion designer’s murder in January 2005 caused widespread outrage. Moshammer, who never made his homosexuality public, had approached the then 25-year-old on the street in downtown Munich. He took him to his home in the Munich suburb of Grünwald, where the Iraqi strangled him with a power cable.

Previously, the conditions for the deportation flight had been created with the recognition of the man’s identity by Iraq. According to the Bavarian State Office for Asylum and Repatriations, the necessary substitute passport paper was now available.

He will disembark the plane in his country of origin a free man, his lawyer Adam Ahmed said recently. His client wanted the deportation.

The Iraqi may never travel to Germany again

However, the man is no longer allowed to enter Germany for the rest of his life. The Munich I public prosecutor had already declared in November 2022 that in the event of deportation from prison, they would refrain from further execution of the prison sentence. However, the authority had refused a release from prison for the remaining sentence probation within Germany.

Ahmed had withdrawn an application for early release. In principle, this would have been possible from January 15, since the minimum period of service of 18 years in this case then expired. According to Ahmed, an expert had classified the man as not yet ready for dismissal in Germany because he had no social environment in this country. It’s different in Iraq.

The Iraqi of Kurdish descent came to Germany around the turn of the millennium and applied for asylum. He had a valid residence permit at the time of the crime.

He was arrested shortly after the crime and his DNA was found at the crime scene. The Munich I Regional Court sentenced him to life imprisonment for murder and robbery and determined the particular gravity of his guilt.