Process - Weapons against corona measures: Defendants report
In the process of founding an armed group against Corona-measures, two out of the three defendants reportedly expressed great fears and panic during the pandemic. "I have experienced incredible fears in this Corona-pandemic", said the 63-year-old defendant at the Landgericht Koblenz on Friday. He is ashamed and regrets not having acted more wisely.
The thought of mandatory vaccinations caused a real panic in them, according to the statement of the 57-year-old defendant, which was read out by his lawyer. He is aware that he violated weapons law. He wants to emphasize that he is not a Corona-denier and did not want to radicalize. The group described themselves as a private fellowship. "We felt mutually understood in our fear."
According to the indictment, the three men are said to have formed a group named "Paladin" and produced weapons components and ammunition using 3D printing. In addition, they are said to have participated in paramilitary exercises. The goal of the group was to acquire the ability for armed self-defense against unwanted visitors and the police.
The 63-year-old accused the third defendant of proposing an attack on a police station and wanting to acquire weapons for it. The 57-year-old and the 63-year-old testified that they had distanced themselves from the third defendant. The 39-year-old was not present during the testimonies of his co-defendants. The court had excluded him from the hearing for the trial day, as he had disrupted the proceedings since the beginning.
The 39-year-old refused to sit down and repeatedly addressed the spectators from the defense bench. He urged them to wink at him "if they were living beings". The judge had warned him before the exclusion: "Stop misusing this court as a stage." The defendant had already been excluded from the proceedings at the beginning of the trial on Tuesday due to disturbances. His lawyer requested that the competence of her client be assessed by an expert.
The three defendants were charged in Rhineland-Palatinate's Koblenz Regional Court for forming an armed group named "Paladin" during the Coronavirus pandemic. Despite their fears and panic, they violated weapons laws and engaged in paramilitary exercises. The group aimed to defend themselves against unwanted visitors and police, but the 63-year-old accused his fellow defendant of proposing an attack on a police station. This led to disruptions in the court proceedings, resulting in the 39-year-old being temporarily excluded from the trial due to extremist behaviors.
