Storm 34
Sturm 34 was a right-wing extremist free comradeship in Mittweida , whose members carried out several brutal attacks. In April 2007 it was banned by the Saxon Interior Minister . Its leaders were sentenced to several years in prison in August 2008.
Foundation, association structure and connections
The storm 34 was founded on the night of March 4th to 5th, 2006 by approx. 30-40 men and women. On the occasion of a party in the right-wing extremist milieu, one of the participants climbed on the table and called out Storm 34 . The name was taken from an SA brigade that was stationed in the Mittweida region during the Nazi era . The storm 34 was composed of members of all social classes. The ages of the members ranged from teenagers to their mid-forties. Of the 175 active or sympathizers, 50 were women and girls.
The NPD district chairman of Mittweida has repeatedly requested Sturm 34 for events. In doing so, he instigated their members to commit criminal offenses, for example by asking them to use physical violence against leftists who would appear at the event.
The Saxon state parliament member Kerstin Köditz ( Die Linke ) described Sturm 34 as "the armed arm of the NPD".
Raids and their consequences
The aim of the group was to terrorize and intimidate the region through violence and martial behavior. It was directed primarily against foreigners and representatives of the left . For example, she attacked the office of the local branch of the Left Party , kebab food stalls, Afro-Germans and punks. The attacks mostly came from a numerically superior group. For example, 15 to 20 members of Storm 34 and eight young people faced each other at a peat pit in Mittweida. Up to 25 members joined in during a village festival in Rochlitz . They wore black clothes, had their heads shaved and wore gloves filled with sand.
In May 2006, 15 members beat some young men at a gas station in Stollberg for no apparent reason. Even after one of the victims was on the ground, they continued to kick it. A witness later described this as saying that the person lying on the ground was like a football for the perpetrators.
On April 26, 2007, the police carried out house searches with 200 emergency services and found, among other things, alarm weapons , balaclavas and right-wing extremist propaganda material. On the same day, the Saxon Interior Minister Albrecht Buttolo banned the group with immediate effect. He justified this with the attacks on foreigners and dissenters who aimed to establish a " nationally liberated zone " around Mittweida.
Criminal trial
Dangerous bodily harm
On 6 August 2008, condemned Regional Court Dresden two defendants from the leading cadres of the storm 34 for grievous bodily harm to youth imprisonment between three and three and a half years. Another defendant was sentenced to one year probation . According to the judge, the main problem facing the defendants was their lack of intellectual property.
Formation of a criminal organization
The public prosecutor's office also charged with the formation of a criminal organization , since Sturm 34 was by no means just a "booze and thug group". The judge acquitted the defendants on this point because there was a lack of group will. The public prosecutor appealed against the judgment on this point to the Federal Court of Justice . This ruled on December 3, 2009 (Az .: 3 StR 277/09) that the storm 34 was a criminal organization due to its objectives and thus granted the appeal. The process was referred back to the Dresden Regional Court, which in its judgment of April 13, 2011 saw the formation of a criminal organization as a given. In January 2013, the Dresden Regional Court confirmed a conviction of five ringleaders from Sturm 34 for grievous bodily harm, damage to property and the formation of a criminal association to probation and fines.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Time online August 12, 2008
- ^ Spiegel online August 6, 2008
- ↑ n-tv April 26, 2007
- ↑ Süddeutsche Zeitung Online, August 6, 2008 ( Memento of the original from August 13, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) 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.
- ↑ Leipziger Volkszeitung ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Süddeutsche Zeitung August 6, 2008 ( Memento of the original from August 13, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) 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.
- ^ N-tv on April 26, 2007
- ↑ Zeit online, August 4, 2008
- ↑ Public prosecutor's office appeals against judgments in the «Sturm 34» trial
- ↑ Trial against Sturm 34 referred back by the Federal Court of Justice to the Dresden Regional Court for renewed hearing ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Suspended sentences in the "Sturm 34" trial - group was a criminal organization ( Memento from April 16, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ http://blog.zeit.de/stoerungsmelder/2013/01/17/endung-gegen-nazigegner-ein-fatales-gesellschaftspolitisches-signal_11085
