Another wasted trial day

The first witness today was the CEO of the Jena Local Mass Transit company, who once again reported that there was no small wooden hut at the tram stop in Jena-Winzerla. Of course, his statement will be without relevance as the victim of the attack has now reported that he had indeed been pushed into a wooden hut, but in a nearby allotment to which he had fled from the tram stop (see the report of yesterday). The Wohlleben defense pretended like nothing had changed, asking the witness for the names of tram drivers who had frequented the tram stop in 1998 to 2000. The victim and his friend, who had managed to flee and call the police, will testify in the week of 7 November.

Continue reading →

On likely attempts by the NSU to scout out a synagogue in Berlin, news on the attack in Jena-Winzerla, and on the Peggy K. case

The only witness today was a former police officer from Berlin who had been a guard posted in front of the synagogue in the Rykestraße in Berlin in 2000. He had stated in 2000 that he had observed Beate Zschäpe together with 2 men and another woman accompanied by two young children. They had sat in front of a restaurant directly next to the entrance to the synagogue, where they had consulted maps and made notes. Shortly thereafter, he had seen a wanted notice on TV and recognized the woman as Zschäpe and notified the police in Thuringia.
Before the witness had been summoned, presiding judge Götzl had asked Beate Zschäpe whether she had been in Berlin in May 2000. This question, by the way, had already been asked by victims’ counsel, but had at that time not been answered by the accused. Today, her counsel Grasel read out a statement confirming that Zschäpe had been in Berlin, but had not “scouted out” the synagogue, which in any event she did not know. Continue reading →

Wohlleben defense: Nazi propaganda in the courtroom

The evidence considered today was again rather slight, nonetheless the trial day lasted until after 4 pm.

An expert witness with the Bavarian criminal police needed less than fifteen minutes to explain convincingly that Marcel Degner’s signature on the undertaking to work as an informer for the Thuringia secret service was “highly likely” put there by Degner himself, that there were absolutely no indications of a forgery. Why the court had even called the expert will remain its secret – after all, Degner had not really said much of relevance in his testimony, accordingly today’s expert opinion seems relevant only for the perjury proceedings instituted against Degner (on Degner’s steadfast denials of having worked for the secret service, see the report of 14 September 2016). Continue reading →

Once more on the attack in 1998 – and on the amateurish investigations of the federal criminal police

The trial day today was quite short – the court closed the trial at shortly after 11 am.

The only witness today was the former disctrict mayor of Jena-Winzerla who was questioned about the buildings present at the site where an attack by several Neonazis on two young men had taken place in 1998 – accused Carsten Schultze had made a statement on that attack (see the report of 21 July 2016). The witness was unable to corroborate one detail of Schultze’s statement, concerning a small wooden hut into which, according to Schultze, one of the victims had been pushed. Other than that, his testimony did not lead to anything new.

Continue reading →

„This decision reads like part of a final judgment“

Today the court again did not question any witnesses – the only witness who had been meant to testify today was unable to appear today and will now testify next week.

Victim counsel Yavuz Narin brought a motion that a Berlin police officer be heard as witness. The witness, who was part of the security detail guarding the synagogue in the Rykestraße in Berlin, had stated that he had seen Zschäpe, Mundlos and other persons scouting out the synagogue in May 2000. This would prove Zschäpe’s involvement in scouting out potential targets of NSU attacks already at an early stage, before the beginning of the series of murders – contrary to her statement, according to which she had only learned about the murders after the fact. Continue reading →

Trial day on 5 October canceled

The trial day on Wednesday, 5 October 2016, has been canceled. The court
will only hold trial on Thursday this week. However, no witnesses have
been called.