Germany updates: Rights groups file case over refugees

As US and Russian leaders meet to discuss peace in Ukraine, key voices are missing — Ukraine and Europe. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz warns that any deal must include Kyiv and begin with a ceasefire. Though Europe's influence is limited, Merz could emerge as a key figure, urging President Trump to protect European and Ukrainian interests.

And for more updates on the Trump-Putin summit, click here for DW's live blog. 

Long a nation of holdouts when it comes to paying with debit and credit cards, a survey released on Friday found that only about a third of people in Germany still prefer putting paper notes and coins on the counter when it's time to settle up.

"Germans have traditionally been considered cash lovers. But the majority now prefer card-based payments both domestically and abroad," said Oliver Maier, managing director at Verivox Finanzvergleich, a comparison website that released the survey.

Within Germany, 35% of those polled said they would rather pay a €20 bill in cash rather than with a card — that's down from 43% in June 2023.

When outside of Germany, but still within the eurozone, 34% of respondents said they'd prefer to pay a bill of €20 or less in cash. Two years ago, that figure was 53%. And when they leave the euro common currency area, 56% said they'd rather use a card to pay.

Cashless payment also grew in popularity in Germany during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The survey was conducted for Verivox by the Innofact polling institute, which in August surveyed 1,031 people aged 18 to 79 in Germany.

Found guilty of dismembering and partially eating an acquaintance, Armin Meiwes was sentenced to life in prison in 2006. Now, the 63-year-old has applied again for an early release, prosecutors in Frankfurt and a regional court in Kassel said, confirming earlier reports in German media.

A spokesperson for the Kassel regional court said it is reviewing the case, but a decision is not expected before the end of the year. State prosecutors have indicated they would request the court reject Meiwes' application for early release.

Meiwes was first arrested in 2002 and initially convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 8 years in prison. That verdict, however, was overturned by the Federal Court of Justice.

But a Frankfurt regional court later convicted him in 2006 of murder and disturbing the peace of the dead for having killed, dismembered and eaten parts of a man who contacted him in an online cannibalism forum. The verdict was particularly controversial as the man consented to the act.

The earliest possible release for Meiwes would have been in December 2017, but his application was rejected at the time and again in 2020, with the justification that the necessary treatment for early release had not been achieved.

Meiwes' current lawyer, Frank Füglein, told a Kassel newspaper he did not consider his client to be dangerous.

"I would have not problem with it if he were my neighbor," Füglein said, calling Meiwes an intelligent person aware of what is happening in the world. "He is polite and an extremely pleasant conversationalist."

Füglein went on to criticize the Kassel prison for failing to prepare Meiwes for release. 

The human rights organization Pro Asyl on Friday filed suit against Germany's foreign and interior ministers, Johann Wadephul and Alexander Dobrindt for their role in the deportation to Afghanistan of individuals with guaranteed protected status in Germany. 

The suit centers around recent news that Pakistani authorities have been sending individuals with approved asylum status in Germany back to the Taliban-led country they seek to escape.

The suit, filed with the Berlin public prosecutor's office, accuses both ministers of failing to protect the rights of Afghan refugees deported by Pakistani authorities.

As Germany maintains no diplomatic presence in Afghanistan, asylum applications for Afghanis in the region must be processed in neighboring Pakistan.

Pro Asyl legal spokeperson Wiebke Judith said, "protection seeking Afghans deported by Pakistani authorities face arbitrary arrest, abuse, even execution." 

Judith said the situation was the result of poor German governance, criticizing the fact that Afghans have been left in this potentially deadly spot due to inaction on Berlin's part, saying they are being thrown into limbo rather than getting visas.     

Currently, some 2,000 Afghanis with guaranteed German refugee status remain in Pakistan.

Chancellor Merz urged Russian President Putin to seize the opportunity presented by his Friday meeting with President Trump to agree to direct negotiations with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy over a ceasefire in Ukraine.

"We expect President Putin to take President Trump's offer of dialogue seriously and, after the meeting in Alaska, to begin unconditional negotiations with Ukraine," posted Merz on X Friday.

Merz continued by saying "a ceasefire needs to be agreed at the summit" between Putin and Zelenskyy, one "that upholds the fundamental security interests of Europe and Ukraine."

Merz also spurred on US President Trump in his efforts to negotiate a deal, thanking him for his close cooperation with European and NATO partners in the endeavor.

You can follow live coverage of the Trump-Putin talks here. 

Guten Tag from the Bonn online news team and welcome to our daily blog covering current affairs in Germany. 

On Friday, the human rights organization Pro Asyl filed charges against Federal Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul and Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt for failing to protect the rights of Afghan refugees deported to Pakistan.

Germany on Friday also pledged €5.8 million ($6.8 million) in further Afghanistan aid, calling the situation in the country, which marks four years of Taliban rule today, "catastrophic."

We will also look at Chancellor Merz urging Russian President Putin to take the opportunity to agree to meetings with President Zelenskyy over a negotiated ceasefire in Ukraine.

Merz's statements came ahead of a highly anticipated meeting this afternoon in Alaska between Putin and US President Donald Trump, which Merz said Putin "should take seriously." 

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