MUNICH, Germany, July 8 (Reuters) - Two men were found guilty of attempted murder on Tuesday for beating up a German pensioner at a railway station last year, an assault that sparked a nationwide debate on crimes committed by foreigners.

A Munich state court sentenced a 21-year-old Turk, identified as Serkan A., to 12 years in prison and an 18-year-old Greek, Spyridon L., to 8-1/2 years. The younger defendant was 17 at the time of the assault.

The pair beat and kicked the 76-year-old man, who had reprimanded them for smoking on the Munich underground. They shouted abuse at him before kicking him in the head.

The pensioner was beaten unconscious, suffering a fractured skull and cerebral haemorrhaging.

The attack last December, caught on a surveillance camera and shown repeatedly on German television, led to calls for tougher sentences, boot camps and even deportation for criminals of foreign origin.

Roland Koch, a conservative member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats, focused on the incident in a regional election campaign in the western state of Hesse, emphasising law and order and accusing foreigners of fuelling crime.

Koch outraged immigrant groups when he told a newspaper Germany had too many young foreign criminals. With an overall population of about 82 million, Germany is home to about 15 million people of immigrant background including 3.2 million Muslims, the majority of whom are of Turkish origin. (Reporting by Anna Holzer; writing by Paul Carrel; editing by Andrew Dobbie)

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