There is talk of significant threats, brutal abuse and drug dealing on a large scale: a suspected six-member gang has been standing before the Würzburg regional court since Wednesday. The public prosecutor’s office has compiled a long list of allegations, including gang-related trafficking in narcotics such as cocaine or cannabis, grievous bodily harm and particularly serious predatory extortion. The defendants are between 20 and 25 years old.
For example, the suspects are said to have intimidated drug addicts and small-time dealers with knives and sticks and beat them with blows and lit cigarettes in order to force them to pay alleged debts. “The defendants were aware that they actually had no right to payment of any sums of money against the injured party,” said the public prosecutor at the start of the trial. The acts are said to have occurred between 2019 and 2022 and several people were injured.
Only one of the defendants, a 22-year-old, commented on Wednesday about the allegation that one of the victims had been tortured with a cigarette: “I was there and didn’t do anything. (…) It was terrible.” The young man did not want to reveal any details, but apologized to the injured party.
A total of eleven trial days are scheduled for the trial before the youth chamber until April 24th. Due to the large number of people involved in the process, the proceedings do not take place in the justice center, but outside in larger rooms.