Tram stop attack cleared up – victim testifies

Today the court heard the witness testimony of the young man who had fallen victim to an attack by Neonazis at a tram stop in Jena – his identity could only be established based on research by victims’ counsel (see the reports of 21 July 2016, 12 October 2016 and 26 October 2016).

The witness reported that he and a man accompanying him were attacked by sechs Nazis at the tram stop, who threw bottles at them and then beat them up. For him, the attack resulted in a broken nose requiring surgery, facial hematoma as well as several contusions. He reported on the attack without any tendency to exaggeration. He also noted that the police treated the attack as a “scuffle” and that he never heard from them again until he was recently contacted by the federal criminal police. Being confronted with the attack again had been significant stress for him.

This case shows not only how the police in Jena trivialized such attacks by Neonazis and refused to conduct serious investigations, but also the lackluster quality and results-orientation of the investigations by the federal criminal police after 2011.

The Wohlleben defense, which had tried to use Schultze’s reports on the attack to question his believability, has totally failed to reach its goals – quite to the contrary, the testimony today showed that Schultze’s recollections were based on facts and quite precise. This of course leads to a strengthening also of Schultze’s incriminating statements concerning the provision of the Ceska murder weapon to the NSU by Wohlleben and Schultze.

Our colleagues Schön and Reinecke from Cologne provide an interesting commentary on the issue (in German) on their webseite.