Five Kurdish men had their manslaughter sentences reduced Tuesday after a retrial in Germany for a lynching, dpa reported.
Judges in Muenster rejected a finding by an earlier trial that the stabbing death of a Kurdish man, 31, on a hardware mart carpark was an "honour killing." German courts treat honour killings as especially heinous and they receive the harshest punishment.
The verdict said the motive had in fact been the main offender's "combination of jealousy, hurt pride and disappointment that his former best friend had seduced his wife." He and his relations were jailed for 6 to 11 years for the August 2008 manslaughter.
Previously they had been given terms of 7 to 12 years, but an appeal court found fault with the sentencing.