After a series of arson attacks motivated by right-wing extremists, the legal processing of individual crimes in the series began on Monday before an extended lay judge at the Tiergarten District Court in Berlin. The two main defendants, the former NPD squad Sebastian T. and the former AfD member Tilo P., are accused in the trial of infecting the vehicles of the Berlin left-wing politician Ferat Kocak and a bookseller on February 1, 2018 in the Berlin district of Neukölln to have.
The Berlin Public Prosecutor’s Office also accuses Sebastian T. of making posters and daubing propaganda with other right-wing extremists for the former Nazi war
With the exception of the alleged fraud with Corona aid, the accused acts are part of the so-called Neukölln series of attacks. Police attribute more than 70 crimes to the series, including more than 20 arson attacks on cars. Those affected are people who are committed to fighting right-wing extremism.
The accused Sebastian T. and Tilo P. did not want to comment on the allegations on Monday. Tilo P.’s defense attorney, the lawyer Mirko Röder, stated that he was seeking an acquittal for his client. “He’s innocent,” Roeder said. His client regrets the suffering that left-wing politician Kocak and his family suffered as a result of the arson attack.
Kocak was only admitted as a joint plaintiff in the process last Friday. The district court had initially rejected Kocak’s application, arguing that the severity of the crime alleged by the public prosecutor’s office – arson – was not sufficient for admission as a joint plaintiff. However, the district court upheld Kocak’s appeal.
Contrary to what is stated in the indictment of the Attorney General’s Office, the arson could at least theoretically be classified as attempted killing, the court said. This conceivable seriousness of the act gives Kocak the right to appear as a joint plaintiff.
At the start of the trial, the defense attorneys for Sebastian T. and Tilo P. applied for the proceedings to be suspended in view of the conceivable severity of the crime that is now under discussion. Because in the case of an attempted killing, it is no longer the district court that is responsible, but the regional court. However, the District Court dismissed the motion to stay the trial. The presiding judge found that there were currently no actual indications of the attempted killing, which the district court considered theoretically conceivable.
The Neukölln series of attacks is currently also affecting politics. Because the Berlin investigative authorities see themselves exposed to allegations of investigation failures. The Berlin House of Representatives therefore set up a parliamentary committee of inquiry before the summer break.
Left-wing politician Kocak is also a deputy member of the committee of inquiry. The dual role of joint prosecutor and enlightener in the series had been repeatedly criticized by representatives of other parties. Tilo P.’s defense attorney, the lawyer Mirko Röder, even sees an obstacle to the criminal process in view of the information advantage that Kocak could gain through the committee’s work.
Kocak rejected this on Monday. He is aware of the dual role, but knows how to behave. “Here I am a victim of the accessory prosecution, there I am a politician,” said Kocak on the sidelines of the trial. On the day of the attack, he was scared to death. “From my perspective, that was not an attack on my car. It was an attack on the life and limb of my family and me,” said Kocak.
In addition to Sebastian T. and Tilo P., the alleged right-wing extremist Samuel B. is also accused in the process. The public prosecutor’s office accuses him of having been involved in putting up the propaganda for the Nazi war criminal Rudolf Hess by Sebastian T. The proceedings against two other suspected neo-Nazis were separated before the proceedings began.