Freital group

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The Freital group (own names Bürgerwehr FTL / 360 or Bürgerwehr Freital ) was a right-wing terrorist group in Freital near Dresden. The members of the group have been shown to have bombed asylum shelters and assaulted refugee supporters. In March 2018, supporters were convicted of founding a terrorist group and, in part, of attempted murder.

Origin and background

In the context of the xenophobic protests in Freital from March 2015, the so-called “Group Freital” formed by the Federal Prosecutor's Office. It was based on the number of a regional bus route in Dresden , in which two Moroccans are said to have molested schoolchildren, and the license plate number of Freital was founded as the "Citizens' Guard FTL / 360". A Facebook page "Bürgerwehr FTL / 360" was registered, which by November 2015 had around 2,600 followers. The "FTL / 360 vigilante group" stated that they wanted to patrol buses regularly and thus "ensure order and security [...]". Members of the vigilante group would ride on the A buses between 7 and 2 a.m., especially on weekends. This was followed by a call from the vigilante group to hinder the organization's demonstration for openness and tolerance . According to the public prosecutor's office, after a spontaneous demonstration in front of the former Leonardo Hotel, the group followed and harassed the car of pro-asylum activists on their way home from Freital to Dresden. During a stop at a gas station, the windshield of the pro-asylum activists' car was smashed with a baseball bat, injuring one of the inmates. Should move to expressions of sympathy via Facebook to block a gym, in the asylum, a nearby alternative housing project with explosives and was butyric attacked what, according to the accused Justin S. and Patrick F. beside the "Group Freital" and the " Free camaraderie Dresden " was involved.

The bus driver Timo S. (* 1989) is considered to be the head of the group. He moved from Hamburg to Saxony in 2014. In Hamburg, the state security had observed him during neo-Nazi marches, also in the vicinity of the " White Wolves Terror Crew ", which was banned in February 2016 .

Among others, the Tagesspiegel and Panorama reported a widespread trivialization of the right-wing terrorist group and their actions in the village, which, according to trial observers, formed the breeding ground for the radicalization of the "Freital Group". In the place there is talk of "rascals prank" and a "show trial". The group would only have ignited a few "bangers". Lord Mayor Uwe Rumberg ( CDU ) spoke of a "handful" of people that they should "not overestimate". City council member Frank Gliemann (Free Voters) said that Freidel's reputation had suffered unjustly. In the opinion of many Freitalers, the members of the group must be punished “with a sense of proportion”. Panorama also reported that the group had met openly at the local Aral gas station, across from the police station, and prepared their attacks. In a bar in the city center operated by right-wing activist and AfD member Dirk Jahresling until 2017, the group met regularly and bragged about their deeds. After the racist riots in Heidenau, Saxony, in August 2015, one of those arrested showed videos of the riots on a screen and identified himself as one of the rioters. No one then reported it, said Panorama . The verbal support for the “Gruppe Freital” in town has also become quite practical. The process revealed that the group had many helpers. Friends and neighbors stored, among other things, the explosives that were later used in attacks. In their testimony, witnesses and neighbors reported only briefly about the acts, but in detail about their aversion to the victims of the attack. According to the secondary prosecution, the defendants drew the justification for their actions from such statements.

Criticism of the investigation in Saxony

The Saxony police and especially the Operative Defense Center investigated several offenses. The attorney general in Dresden brought charges and a. against the founder of the group. He and two other men were arrested in November 2015.

The MP Enrico Stange ( Die Linke ) made a small question in July 2015 (Drs.-No. 6/1818) on the "Topic: Vigilante Freital". Interior Minister Markus Ulbig replied that the operational defense center was investigating several suspects, some of whom were part of the “Freital vigilante”, on suspicion of dangerous bodily harm (Section 224 of the Criminal Code). He also announced: “A 'vigilante FTL / 360' is not an object of observation by the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution (LfV) Saxony . The LfV Sachsen has no knowledge of any actual evidence of extremist efforts by a 'vigilante FTL / 360'. ”In November 2016, the state government admitted that the Saxon constitutional protection agency had contact with at least one member of the group.

A witness, as a person close to the group, gave extensive evidence about the alleged first attack by the group in September 2015. He revealed the names of the members of the "Freital Group" and the chats used . He also stated that he was present at one of the attacks. According to Spiegel , the Saxony public prosecutor assured the informant of confidentiality. In his interrogation protocol it was noted that the informant had identified himself with a badge . According to Der Spiegel , this indicates that the police had positioned an officer in the vicinity of the Freital group. The police in Saxony denied having had an informant in the group and stated that the information about the witness had been incorrectly filled in in the protocol. It has been known since January 2017 that three officials are suspected of betrayal of official secrecy and that the investigations have been very hesitant.

Before the second stop of the group, the Saxon investigators loud should mirror already a phone line in the vicinity of the now arrested accused bugged have. According to the tapping protocol, the Saxony police had evidence of a planned attack several hours before the attack on the Dresden housing project, but the police did not intervene.

Investigations by the Federal Prosecutor's Office

After various attacks in Freital, the federal prosecutor took over the investigation at the beginning of April 2016. The General Public Prosecutor's Office in Dresden had submitted two proceedings in Karlsruhe for initial suspicion of the formation of a terrorist organization. Der Spiegel reported that the "federal intervention apparently had been preceded by a lengthy tussle with the Saxon state authorities over responsibilities". Dresden did not actively evaluate the procedure as a terrorist procedure and passed it on.

The Federal Prosecutor's Office connects the following attacks with the group:

  1. the attack on an asylum seeker accommodation in Freital with pyrotechnic explosives in the night of November 1, 2015. During the explosions, one resident suffered several cuts in his face from flying glass fragments. The other residents were able to get to safety in the hallway of the accommodation in good time. Seven suspected perpetrators were identified.
  2. the attack on the housing project “Deficiency Economy” in Dresden, which was involved in refugee work, in the night of October 19, 2015. Stones were thrown into the windows. Then illegal firecrackers were hurled into the rooms. At the back door, several perpetrators detonated two more explosives prepared with butyric acid. According to Zeit , the perpetrators expected that the residents would then flee. One of the explosives exploded. The investigation revealed that the attack was planned and well prepared. In addition to two attacking groups, there were escape vehicle drivers and explosives procurers.
  3. the attack on an asylum seekers accommodation in Freital on the night of September 20, 2015. An explosive device was detonated on the kitchen window of an accommodation. The residents were able to escape into the hallway of their apartment before the explosion destroyed windows and inventory. Nobody got hurt.

The Federal Prosecutor's Office assumes that there are connections between the group and the attacks on the car of a left-wing city council and the party office of Die Linke in Freital.

In the course of the investigation, instructions for building pipe bombs were found in the alleged ringleader Timo S.

In an interrogation in November 2015, a suspect stated that the group had received information from an officer of the Saxony riot police about their upcoming operations. On December 13, 2016, Justice Minister Sebastian Gemkow announced that a second police officer would also be investigated. In January 2017, the Saxon Interior Minister Markus Ulbig stated in a statement that suspected cases against a total of three police officers were now being examined.

Anti-terror mission in Freital

On April 19, 2016, apartments and houses in Freital were searched by 200 officers from the Federal Criminal Police Office , the Federal Police and the Saxony Police . Access was made by order of the Federal Prosecutor's Office. GSG 9 was also used for access . The GSG 9 arrested five suspects. The federal prosecutor's office started investigations against eight alleged members of the "Freital Group", among other things for attempted murder , dangerous bodily harm and membership in a terrorist group. Similar to the German neo-Nazi terror organization Oldschool Society (OSS), which was excavated in 2015 , the members exchanged cryptic messages in a closed messenger group they called "Black Chat". For their life-threatening explosives with the effect of a hand grenade they used the code name "fruit".

A three-digit number of explosive devices was found during the arrests. These were so-called "Poland firecrackers" of the types "La Bomba" and "Viper" with enormous explosive power. Explicitly anti-Semitic materials were also seized, for example a picture of Adolf Hitler in front of a chimney with the words "The bigger the Jew - the warmer the booth."

After the arrests in April 2016, Heribert Prantl wrote in the Süddeutsche Zeitung that the Federal Prosecutor's Office had wanted more clarity under the impression of the NSU failure. "It is better to create this clarity and to use the responsibilities that you have - even if the state investigative authorities, as just in Saxony, are unwilling." A new NSU should be prevented. “The time is over when brown crimes were covered with trivializing vocabulary; these are not 'incidents', this is not a 'riot'; that is possibly terror. "

process

Newly created branch of the Dresden Higher Regional Court, where the trial against the Freital group took place

In early November 2016, the Attorney General brought charges against seven men and one woman.

By July 2015 at the latest, the defendants S., W. and F. are said to have formed the Freital terrorist group with other supporters. According to the investigators, the group was set up for a long time and had the goal of intimidating politically dissenters and frightening refugees so that they leave the Federal Republic again. According to the Federal Prosecutor's office, she wanted to enforce her right-wing extremist ideology by force - u. a. with bomb attacks and killing people. The right-wing extremist "Gruppe Freital" was made responsible for a total of five xenophobic or politically motivated attacks in Saxony on the basis of the available findings of the investigators and those involved were charged accordingly. The investigators assume that several people have attempted murder because the perpetrators approved the death of their victims. The indictment has over 160 pages.

The criminal trial against the eight defendants before the Dresden Higher Regional Court began on March 7, 2017. They are accused of forming a terrorist organization , attempted murder , dangerous physical harm and causing explosives . Around 60 negotiation days were initially scheduled up to September 2017. In January 2018, the federal prosecutor's office demanded eleven years for Patrick F. and ten years and nine months for Timo S. For the remaining defendants, the prosecutor demanded sentences of between nine and a half and five years. The youngest defendant was to be treated according to juvenile criminal law.

The Higher Regional Court had a high-security courtroom set up in a rededicated initial reception facility for refugees especially for the procedure.

judgment

After 73 days of trial, the eight defendants were sentenced to between four and ten years in prison on March 7, 2018. All were found guilty of forming a terrorist group. The court considered it proven that the defendants had carried out a total of five explosive attacks on refugee shelters and political opponents in Freital and Dresden in 2015 due to right-wing extremist attitudes in changing cast and involvement. Because of ring leadership, the defendants Timo S. and Patrick F. received the highest sentences of ten and nine and a half years. Justin S., who was only 18 at the time of the crime and who had testified extensively at the trial, was sentenced to four years under juvenile justice, and 29-year-old Maria K. to five and a half years in prison.

literature

  • Walter Wüllenweber : Timo - a German terrorist, in: Stern No. 10, March 2, 2017, pp. 42–47.

Web links

  • Tilman Steffen: Reich War Flag? No matter. A Dresden court has been negotiating the Freital group for six months. The process reveals everything that went wrong in the Saxon judiciary, in: zeit.de , August 26, 2017.
  • MDR dossier
  • blog of the accessory prosecution representative

Footnotes

  1. ^ A b Matthias Meisner : Suspicion of right-wing terrorism against the Freital vigilante group. Attacks against left-wing politicians and refugees. In: Der Tagesspiegel . April 12, 2016. Retrieved November 8, 2016 .
  2. ↑ a b Sabine Am Orde: Right-wing terror in Germany: The test case according to the NSU. In: the daily newspaper. April 12, 2016. Retrieved April 19, 2016 .
  3. ↑ How the vigilante group spreads fear. In: Sächsische Zeitung , November 6, 2015.
  4. ^ Raids in Saxony: With maximum power against right-wing extremists . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . ISSN  0174-4909 ( faz.net [accessed April 25, 2016]).
  5. ^ "Rascals": How to play down terrorists in Freital. In: daserste.ndr.de. January 29, 2015, accessed December 15, 2017 .
  6. ↑ Xenophobia in Saxony: The common people of Freital. In: tagesspiegel.de . May 6, 2016, accessed December 15, 2017 .
  7. ↑ Markus Ulbig: Small question from the MP Enrico Stange, parliamentary group DIE LINKE Drs. -No: 6/1818 Subject: Bürgerwehr Freital . Ed .: State Parliament of Saxony.
  8. ↑ Quality and circumstances still unclear - the protection of the Constitution had contact with the "Freital Group". In: dnn.de. November 17, 2016. Retrieved November 19, 2016 .
  9. ^ Report: Police knew about the goals of the Freital group. In: hna.de. Retrieved April 23, 2016 .
  10. ↑ a b Already three police officers in the sights of the investigators. In: zeit.de. January 18, 2017. Retrieved January 18, 2017 .
  11. ↑ Police may have known about the Freital Group's targets. In: Augsburger Allgemeine. Retrieved April 23, 2016 .
  12. ↑ a b Anti-terror mission in Freital: code word "fruit". In: Spiegel online. Retrieved April 19, 2016 .
  13. ^ The Federal Prosecutor General at the Federal Court of Justice: press release. In: generalbundesanwalt.de. Retrieved April 19, 2016 .
  14. ↑ a b attacks in Freital and Dresden - raid against right-wing terrorist group in Freital. In: lvz.de. Retrieved April 19, 2016 .
  15. ^ A b Tilman Steffen: Freital trial: Reich war flag? No matter . In: The time . August 26, 2017, ISSN  0044-2070 ( zeit.de [accessed November 13, 2017]).
  16. ↑ a b Federal Prosecutor's Office brings action against members of the "Freital Group". (No longer available online.) In: tagesschau.de. Archived from the original on November 8, 2016 ; Retrieved November 7, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.tagesschau.de
  17. ↑ Timo's hatred of refugees: The career of a right-wing arsonist - Spiegel online - Video. In: Spiegel online. Retrieved April 19, 2016 .
  18. ^ Suspicion of right-wing terrorism against the Freital vigilante group. In: tagesspiegel.de. Retrieved April 19, 2016 .
  19. ↑ Kai Biermann, Astrid Geisler, Frida Thurm: Group Freital: Did a police officer help the terror suspect? In: The time . November 29, 2016, ISSN  0044-2070 ( zeit.de [accessed November 29, 2016]).
  20. ↑ Matthias Quent, Jan Rathje: “From the Turner Diaries to Breivik to the NSU: Antisemitism and right-wing terrorism.” In: Samuel Salzborn: “Antisemitism since 9/11. Events, debates, controversies. ”Nomos, Baden-Baden 2019, p. 170 f.
  21. ↑ Heribert Prantl : From the clouds of ignorance. Clearly against brown crimes. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . April 19, 2016, accessed November 8, 2016 .
  22. ^ Right-wing extremism: Attorney General charges terror group "Freital". In: Spiegel online. Retrieved November 7, 2016 .
  23. ↑ Trial is imminent - the indictment assigns five attacks to the Freital group. In: lvz.de. Retrieved November 16, 2016 .
  24. ↑ Right-wing extremism: Attorney General accuses terrorist group “Freital”. In: Spiegel online. Retrieved November 7, 2016 .
  25. ^ Peter Maxwill: The state against xenophobia. In: Spiegel Online , March 5, 2017, accessed on the same day.
  26. ↑ Trial against suspected terrorist cell begins under strict security precautions. In: Spiegel Online , March 7, 2017, accessed on the same day.
  27. ↑ http://www.tagesschau.de/inland/freital-process-103.html
  28. ↑ On Hammerweg. Freistaat shows new courtroom for trial against "Gruppe Freital". DNN February 8, 2017.
  29. ^ Judgment: Long prison sentences for right-wing terrorist group Freital. In: Spiegel Online . March 7, 2018, accessed March 7, 2018 .
  30. ^ Right-wing extremist "Gruppe Freital" receives long prison sentences for terrorism and attempted murder. In: thueringer-allgemeine.de , March 7, 2018.