Series of attacks in Berlin: What is the Neukölln neo-Nazi trial about?

23 burnt-out cars, smashed windows and death threats: A group of neo-Nazis attacked citizens in Berlin-Neukölln who are active against right-wing extremism. How does the court evaluate the deeds?

For weeks, the process observers in room B 129 have had the same picture: the two accused right-wing extremists Tilo B. and Sebastian T. have been following the events largely motionless. Now and then a brief whisper with their defense attorneys, otherwise the two accused seem rather bored when, for example, victims of the attacks report their fears as witnesses. On the other hand, the two follow the statements of the investigating police officers with a smile when their lawyers ask probing questions to get the investigators to reveal gaps in the evidence.

A police video was presented in court last week that allegedly showed one of the accused spraying a threat on a doorway with another man. An investigator wants to have “uniquely identified” the accused neo-Nazi Sebastian T., who has multiple criminal records, on the gritty black-and-white video with poor image quality. In the course of his testimony, however, he has to admit that he and his colleagues initially mistook the other right-wing extremist for someone else. “How can you then be sure that you have recognized my client here,” promptly asks Sebastian T’s defense attorney. The poor image quality of the video almost answers the question by itself.

series of attacks over the years

The so-called “Neukölln complex” caused fear and terror in southern Berlin for years: 23 burnt-out cars, smashed windows, death threats on the walls of houses. A small but militant group of young neo-Nazis kept citizens who are active against racism and right-wing extremism awake.

After a series of serious investigations by the security authorities, which repeatedly made headlines, the Berlin public prosecutor’s office managed to bring two suspected perpetrators to justice in August of this year. But the prosecution may not be well-founded enough. It consists mainly of clues. This could now ensure that at least one of the two main defendants will leave the courtroom as a free man.

One indication is that the investigators found Google Maps screenshots on Tilo P.’s confiscated computer shortly after the alleged arson on the car of left-wing politician Ferat Kocak on the night of February 1, 2018. These show that P. took a close look at the Kocak family’s property and the local conditions online. A few days later, the car of the then district politician caught fire. The officers also found a balaclava on P’s kitchen table. But none of this is evidence, as the defense attorneys skillfully put it again and again in court.

A series of investigations

The defendants had previously spied on Kocak for more than a year and followed him until they knew where he lived and what kind of car he drove. The Office for the Protection of the Constitution and sometimes also the Berlin State Criminal Police Office (LKA) listened in at the time. Recordings of tapped phone calls rbb24-Research are available, prove this.

But the investigators did not warn the later victim of the right-wing extremists. The two neo-Nazis also allowed the investigators to do their thing, but there was no necessary talk of a threat, as is usual in such cases. The calamity took its course. Parallel to the process, a parliamentary committee of inquiry into the Neukölln events is currently running in the Berlin House of Representatives. Victims of further attacks reported there about further police mishaps.

The social worker Christiane Schott, for example, on whose house young right-wing extremists had carried out ten attacks with broken windows and a blown-up mailbox, recently complained that the investigators in the house across the street had installed a surveillance camera, but that it was not running at the exact time of an attack because the batteries were dead were empty. The Schott family has since sold their house and moved away from Neukölln.

Investigators in the Twilight

Accusations have been raised several times in recent years that police officers may have facilitated the activities of the right-wing extremists by passing on sensitive information. Six weeks after the arson attack on the car of left-wing politician Ferat Kocak, constitutional protection officials want to have observed how a colleague from the Berlin LKA met neo-Nazi Sebastian T., who has since been accused, and three other neo-Nazis known to the police in a football bar in Neukölln.

Officer W. is known to the Office for the Protection of the Constitution because he works for the LKA in a department that is also responsible for surveillance measures. After the constitutional protection officers had communicated their observations, this officer was initially investigated by the police, and later the public prosecutor’s office also examined the case. However, the case against him was subsequently dropped.

Today the security authorities speak of a mistake. The intelligence officers had confused T. with another person, a friend of officer W. What is indisputable, however, is that both T. and three other neo-Nazis were in the pub at the time, as was the LKA official W. Members of the investigative committee have not been convinced by the authorities’ account to this day, and they are still demanding clarification in this case.

Great effort, hardly usable results?

After a trial lasting more than four months, P. could be the first of the two neo-Nazis to be acquitted today – for lack of evidence. How things will continue with his buddy Sebastian T. is open. Will the evidence collected by the public prosecutor’s office not be sufficient here either? In the case of two arson cars, the evidence against T. could also be difficult.

But in the coming weeks he will also be tried for death threats. He is said to have threatened political opponents with death on the walls of houses – with the telling words “9mm for…”. In addition, the Attorney General accuses T. of social fraud. Among other things, he is said to have fraudulently obtained Corona emergency aid measures.