Teens get suspended sentences for Auschwitz gate vandalism
Portuguese youths apologize for writing names and date on death camp entrance, plan to appeal
WARSAW, Poland — A Polish court has handed out one-year suspended prison terms and fined two Portuguese teenagers who wrote their names on a gate of the former Nazi German death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau.
The lawyer for the 17- and 18-year-old says they regret and have apologized for putting their names and the date on the red brick gate of Birkenau, part of the Auschwitz complex. The teens were there on July 28, while attending a world youth meeting with Pope Francis in Poland.
Under Polish law, any damage to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial is a crime. One of the teens used a pen to inscribe his name, the other a stone.
Defense lawyer Marcin Surowiec told The Associated Press he plans to appeal the sentences issued Wednesday because his clients did not damage the gate.