Munich - Two foreign youths are to face attempted murder charges for a highly-publicized assault in December on an elderly man who asked them to stop smoking on the Munich underground, prosecutors in the Bavarian capital said Thursday. The youths, a 20-year-old Turk and an 18-year-old Greek, were seen on security television footage broadcast throughout Germany and abroad beating the 76-year-old man after alighting from a train.
Prosecutors said they were aiming for a trial in June.
The assault, which took place on December 20, provoked heated debate in Germany on how to deal with youth crime and crime caused by immigrants.
The issue featured strongly in the election campaign in the German state of Hesse a month later.
Munich police said at the time the two assailants had shown little remorse for their actions.
The victim suffered several fractures to the skull and brain haemorrhaging, but later made a recovery.
Smoking is not allowed on the Munich underground.
