At the end of yesterday’s hearing, there was a rumor that the current trial could be interrupted due to a defense motion. There is no such danger. There is no legal basis for the suspension of the trial.

The defense lawyer requested a suspension, i.e. a restart of the trial or interruption of the trial for three weeks in accordance with Section 265 (3) StPo (Code of Criminal Procedure). This is by no means unusual or unexpected. The starting point for this was a judicial notice. The higher regional court in Naumburg had previously pointed out that with regard to the co-plaintiff Mr. Ibrahim, a conviction for attempted murder could be considered for the defendant, instead of criminal negligence causing bodily harm. Mr. Ibrahim, a black person, had been hit and injured by the defendant on his escape in Halle.

It is the right of the defense to make such suspension requests. A defense may also submit requests that have no prospect of success. During the main hearing, the presiding judge made it clear that the procedure does not threaten to “burst”. According to her preliminary assessment, the conditions for a suspension are not met, since it can only take place if new circumstances are introduced and the defendant cannot adequately prepare for these new circumstances in his defense. There is not the case. The presiding judge was simply not allowed to give a final assessment, as the entire Senate had to decide on the matter.

The real scandal is that the federal prosecutor’s office did not charge the attack on co-plaintiff Ibrahim as attempted murder, but merely as criminal negligence, in the first place. This factual and legal misjudgment, which the Federal Prosecutor also adhered to during the trial, had made the application of the co-plaintiffs necessary. So-called “speeders” are convicted of murder or attempted murder. If, on the other hand, an avowed racist runs over a black person at excessive speed and changing the side of the lane and confesses that he would have tried to evade a white person, then the Federal Prosecutor’s office could not and would not recognize any intent. This is beyond any understanding. Especially since the Federal Prosecutor ignores all incriminating statements by the accused and the witnesses and actually bends backwards to interpret what happened as mere negligence. The Federal Prosecutor relieves the defendant and, contrary to all the indications that speak against him, solely relies on his admission to the police, which coincidentally concerns another crime complex, and believes it. This is the real scandal.

Just as scandalous is the failure to recognize the attempted murder of the co-plaintiff İsmet Tekin, who was exposed to the assassin’s volleys on the street. The Federal Prosecutor’s office likewise did not take this murder attempt into account in the indictment and persistently tried to prevent co-plaintiff İsmet Tekin from participating in the trial. Accordingly, yesterday İsmet Tekin’s lawyer also requested a corresponding legal notice that the Senate should determine that the conviction for attempted murder is possible in his case as well.

We, various legal representatives of co-plaintiffs, take the motions that all attempted murders are clearly identified as such and condemned accordingly for granted. The legal background of the motions is that the court may only further convict the accused after a corresponding legal notice has been given. The procedural approach of our colleagues is solely due to the indictment by the federal prosecutor’s office, which refuses to correctly name and evaluate the defendant’s eliminatory racism. The trial is, of course, not endangered by this procedure.

Lawyers: 

Benjamin Derin
Ilil Friedman
Alexander Hoffmann 
Dr. Kati Lang
Onur Özata
Gerrit Onken 
Mark Lupschitz  
Kristin Pietrzyk
Doreen Blasig – Vonderlin
Antonia von der Behrens
Sebastian Scharmer