Verdict in Ulm after the arson attack on Roma: "Extremely reprehensible and inhuman"

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Two of the defendants in the trial before the Ulm Regional Court (archive image)

Photo: Stefan Puchner / dpa

The young men repeatedly terrorized the Roma family in May 2019.

First they spray a sign with the message "Not welcome", "Not welcome".

Then they set off a firecracker and lay a half-rotten swan on the meadow where the women, men and children camp with their caravans in Erbach-Dellmensingen in the Alb-Danube district.

On the night of May 24, 2019, Leo B., 19, finally throws a burning torch out of a car.

At the wheel sits Maximilian P., 18. In the back seat, Dominik O., 18, Julian F., 17, and Robin D., 18. They abuse the Roma family as "gypsies" who should "piss off".

This is how the defendants described the attacks in court.

The burning torch lands in the grass next to a trailer.

A woman and her nine-month-old baby sleep in the trailer.

The flame goes out by itself after a few minutes. 

Because of joint coercion in 45 cases, the 2nd major criminal chamber of the Ulm Regional Court sentenced four of the five men to youth sentences of 10 to 16 months on Wednesday, suspended on probation.

Driven by "xenophobia, racism and antigypsyism", all five defendants wanted to "spread a climate of fear and terror" and wanted to make it clear that further attacks would follow if the family did not leave.

"Extremely reprehensible and inhuman" is what the presiding judge Michael Klausner called her motive.

"Words fail for that"

Judge Michael Klausner

The court sentenced all defendants under youth criminal law.

In order to impose a custodial sentence, even if it is suspended on probation, the Chamber must assume that the accused have so-called harmful tendencies.

For the court there is no question that at least at the time of the crime all five defendants had such a tendency.

The presiding judge speaks of "tons of footage" found on their cell phones.

Among them, for example, a photo in which the defendants pose with a Reich flag with an imperial eagle and an iron cross and show the Hitler salute.

They paid homage to Hitler, heard "the inhuman texts" by the right-wing extremist band Landser and described Roma as a "plague".

"Words are lacking for that," says the judge.

The perpetrators have to visit a concentration camp memorial

Maximilian P., who drove the car on the night of the crime, is the only defendant for whom the judges are unsure whether it is still necessary to impose a youth penalty.

Maximilian P. confessed early and fully, he apologized to the family and paid them 5000 euros as compensation.

He also looked for "a completely new environment", took part in a dropout program for neo-Nazis and "completely moved away from his ideas".

The judges apply section 27 of the Juvenile Court Act in his case.

That means that Maximilian P. now has to prove himself for a year and a half.

If he succeeds, "the matter has been taken care of for you," as Judge Klausner put it.

If he is noticed again, he too faces a youth sentence.

All five young men must now also visit a concentration camp memorial within four months in order to deal with German history.

Afterwards they have to write down their impressions on ten pages.

Leo B., Dominik O. and Julian F. also have to pay 1200 euros to the Hildegard Lagrenne Foundation, which supports Sinti and Roma.

Maximilian P. and Robin D. have already paid compensation to the Roma family they wanted to evict from Erbach.

The judges have moved away from the charge of attempted murder and attempted serious arson.

The court does not consider it to be proven that the young men at least accepted the death of people by throwing a torch.

"Since you cannot look into the heads of the accused, you need clues" to establish such a killing intention, the judge explains.

From the Chamber's point of view, there are no such indications. 

Because the five friends had not planned the act long in advance.

They had fished in a pond that evening.

A man happened to come by and offered them two torches in exchange for a fish.

The accused then spontaneously decided to drive with the burning torch to the meadow where the Roma family was camping.

There the young men would not have sneaked up to the caravans, but approached them in their car with loud music and bawling.

The Chamber followed the explanations of an expert, according to which the caravan in which the woman slept with her baby could only have caught fire under the most unfavorable circumstances.

The torch would have landed directly on a tire and had to burn for at least ten, more likely 15 minutes, until the fire would have spread to the tire and thus to the caravan.

However, the accused's torch had burned down so far that it only burned for about two minutes before it went out by itself.

"Everyone, including the defendants, was very lucky," said Mehmet Daimagüler after the verdict was announced.

Daimaguler is the lawyer for the woman who slept in the trailer with her baby.

They would all have been lucky that no one was injured in the attack.

"It wasn't a stupid boyish prank. It wasn't a slapstick.

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