Process - Hunt for political opponents: Men in Chemnitz on trial
More than five years have passed since the brutal hunt for participants in a "Herz statt Hetze" demonstration in Chemnitz, and several suspected attackers have been on trial since Monday. A group of social democrats and SPD sympathizers from Marburg had also been attacked.
However, the trial got off to a slow start. Six of the original nine defendants remained - and two of them did not show up for the trial. Their cases were severed so that four men are now still being tried. On Monday, they remained silent about the allegations.
According to the indictment, the whole thing goes back to late summer 2018, when demonstrations and riots broke out in Chemnitz following the violent death of a German man in a dispute with asylum seekers, with right-wing extremists traveling from all over Germany to attend. This included a so-called funeral march organized by AfD, Pegida and Pro Chemnitz.
The defendants are said to have taken part in this. Afterwards, however, they did not leave but decided to roam Chemnitz in search of counter-demonstrators.
Their aim was to intimidate opponents, according to the Dresden public prosecutor's office. To this end, they marched through the city in a large group of at times more than 30 people. Opponents were encircled several times and hit in the face with fists. The attackers are said to have shouted "Adolf Hitler our leader" and "Fucking ticks". They are said to have chased a man they identified as a migrant and shouted: "We'll get him. We'll kill him."
This is the first of three cases pending at the Chemnitz Regional Court regarding the attacks on 1 September 2018. Victims' representatives had previously sharply criticized the Saxon justice system and accused it of abandoning those affected. They were discouraged by the long duration of the proceedings, while militant neo-Nazi networks were strengthened. According to them, the attackers are trained in martial arts in order to intimidate, attack and injure political opponents.
The charge is eleven counts of breach of the peace and grievous bodily harm. According to his lawyer, one of the six defendants is currently in a psychiatric ward and another has gone into hiding before serving another prison sentence. The four remaining defendants, aged between 26 and 44, come from Saxony and Lower Saxony.
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- Despite the passage of over five years, the trial for the men involved in the violent hunt for demonstrators during the "Herz statt Hetze" demonstration in Chemnitz is still ongoing.
- The trial, which began on Monday, initially involved nine defendants, but two failed to attend, leading to their cases being separated, leaving four men on trial.
- The incidents stem from summer 2018, when demonstrations and riots erupted in Chemnitz after a German man's violent death in a dispute with asylum seekers.
- The defendants are accused of participating in these demonstrations and then proceeding to hunt for counter-demonstrators in Chemnitz, aiming to intimidate them.
- The case is being heard in Hesse, as some of the defendants hail from municipalities in Hesse, in addition to Saxony and Lower Saxony.
- According to victims' representatives, the justice system has been criticized for its handling of the case, with the proceedings taking an excessive amount of time, allowing extremist networks to flourish.
- The charges against the defendants include eleven counts of breach of the peace and grievous bodily harm, with one defendant currently residing in a psychiatric ward and another in hiding to avoid serving another prison sentence.
Source: www.stern.de
