Women's rights activists in Germany have staged a vigil for a woman slain by her ex-husband last year amid anger that he isn't tried for murder.

Members of a Hamburg women's shelter remembered the 42-year-old victim, a mother of four, outside the city's regional court where Marc H. went on trial Tuesday.

The defendant, whose surname wasn't released for privacy reasons, is accused of stabbing his ex-wife 50 times with a knife at her apartment last December.

Prosecutors have charged him with manslaughter. They say that by law, he can't be charged with murder because the victim was aware of the 50-year-old's violent record. The man had previously attacked her by strangling and using an electric shock device.

Activists say cases like this show the law needs changing.