Marcel Degner and his witness counsel

The trial day today was another short one. The only witness was – once again – the former chief of Blood and Honour Thuringia, Marcel Degner. He was again questioned about his activities as an informer for the Thuringia domestic secret service, which contact officers had clearly confirmed, but Degner had denied until the end (see the report of 29 June 2016).

Today Degner stated that he wanted to “revise” his earlier statement concerning his working as an informer and refuse to answer, relying on the privilege against self-incrimination. He was told several times that it was either one – revise the earlier statement and make a different one (e.g. “I was an informer after all”) or refuse to answer the question –, but that both at once was not possible. His witness counsel was similarly informed, without however doing anything to change this strategy – leading to a motion brought by the defense and joined in by the federal prosecution that the witness counsel be exchanged for a colleague more versed in this legal field. Continue reading →

The taking and consideration of evidence clearly show that the trial is headed towards a conviction

Today the court heard one witness, a computer expert with the federal criminal police who had inter alia printed out the photos of Zschäpe’s, Böhnhardt’s and Mundlos’ summer vacation in 2004, contained on a CD-ROM found in the Frühlingsstraße apartment. These pictures, taken shortly after the nail bomb attack in the Keupstraße in Cologne, show a merry Zschäpe in harmony with the two men – refuting her claim that after the men had told her of the Cologne attack, there had been icy silence between her and them (see the report of 11 May 2016). The fact that the court takes such care to investigate technical details concerning these photos shows that it is planning to use them in its judgment – as an incriminating piece of evidence disproving Zschäpe’s statement in court. Continue reading →