The two German tourists accused of spray painting the Charles Bridge, brothers Niclase Steigera and Benjamina Wittiga, were sentenced to a one-year suspended term sentence, 5 years expulsion from the Czech Republic and a 100,000CZK fine.
Steiger, the younger brother, admitted to the crime. Wittiga has claimed innocence, confirmed by his guilty brother. The judge, Pavla Hajkova, was unmoved adding that the two witnesses testified that they saw both brothers spray painting the bridge, and had no reason to lie. The brothers main motivation for claiming Wittiga innocent may be the likelihood of him losing his civilian job with the German Army.
Hajkova went on to add that even though the brothers have already been sentenced, and this was their appeal case, the fact that Wittiga played a major role in spray painting one of the best know historical monuments in the Czech Republic plays no merit to their claims of innocence.