Because of two arson attacks on the cars of people who are active against right-wing extremism, two neo-Nazis have to answer before an extended lay judge of the Tiergarten district court in Berlin on Monday. The indictment accuses the 36-year-old former NPD squad Sebastian T. and his alleged accomplice, the 39-year-old former AfD member Tilo P., of driving the vehicles of the Berlin left-wing politician Ferat Kocak and a bookseller on February 1, 2018 to have infected.
Sebastian T. is also said to have committed fraud with Corona aid. With three other right-wing extremists, he is also said to have put up right-wing stickers with propaganda for the former Nazi war criminal Rudolf Hess in the city area. In addition, the general public prosecutor’s office accuses T. of having threatened another neo-Nazi with right-wing extremist graffiti on their home addresses.
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. The victims are people who are committed to fighting right-wing extremism.
The Berlin investigative authorities had to be accused of numerous omissions when trying to clarify. The Berlin House of Representatives has therefore set up a committee of inquiry to clarify the allegations.
One of the victims of the attacks of February 1, 2018, the Berlin Left MP Ferat Kocak, was only admitted as a joint plaintiff in the trial that is now starting on Friday last week. The Berlin district court upheld Kocak’s complaint and stated as a reason that a conviction for attempted murder could also be considered in the proceedings. The prosecution only accuses the neo-Nazis of arson because of the vehicles they set on fire.
In view of the district court’s assessment of the possible seriousness of the crime at the start of the trial, the defense attorneys are likely to question the jurisdiction of the district court and are said to want to apply for the suspension of the proceedings. Even before the trial began, left-wing groups demonstrated against right-wing extremism in front of the courthouse and demanded that the series of attacks be fully clarified.
