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“Huh? Isn't this about the Middle Ages? "- the testimony of a defendant in the trial against" Group S. "

2021-04-29T20:10:09.074Z


Twelve suspected right-wing terrorists are said to have planned attacks in Germany. One of them worked in the administration of a police headquarters - he describes his participation in the meetings as a major misunderstanding.


Enlarge image

Defendant Thorsten W .: In court he professes to the basic democratic order, but the results of the investigation show a different picture

Photo: Pool / Getty Images

Thorsten W. feels uncomfortable, you can tell by looking at him.

As a suspected right-wing terrorist, he sits in a box made of bulletproof glass, sunk in a khaki anorak.

The hall of the Stuttgart Higher Regional Court on the site of the high-security wing in Stammheim was built for proceedings in which the defendants are considered to be violent criminals dangerous to the state or members of forbidden associations.

The highest level of security prevails here.

Another eleven men are charged with W., all alleged members of the "Group S." The Federal Prosecutor's Office accuses them of precisely that: the formation of a right-wing terrorist organization, illegal possession of weapons and the preparation of serious acts of violence that endanger the state.

According to the prosecutors, the right-wing dozen posed a real threat of terrorism: At the announcement of the alleged ringleader Werner S., 54, and his most loyal assistant Tony E., 40, the group is said to have planned attacks on politicians, asylum seekers and Muslims, if possible killing many people and starting a civil war.

Allegations that W. is reluctant to let sit on.

And so two judicial officers put handcuffs on him and guide him out of the glass case into the witness stand, where W. takes off his anorak, takes off his FFP2 mask and unpacks it.

If you believe W., he is wrongly in the dock and everything is a big misunderstanding.

Enjoyment of Germanic costumes

Until his arrest, W. lived in a steadfast relationship, he is divorced, father of an almost 15-year-old daughter and owner of the small gun license.

He worked as a civil servant in the Hamm Police Headquarters for a net salary of around 3000 euros, most recently as a government inspector in the traffic commission, responsible for traffic offenses.

He led a peaceful life that he seems to be missing.

His hobby, of all things, is said to have got him into trouble: W. has a penchant for Nordic customs.

He likes himself in costumes of Germanic warriors and posted photos of himself in an internet forum.

At a medieval market on Fehmarn, W. says, he met Thomas N. from Minden in July 2017.

The 57-year-old tiler is also sitting in the dock in the glass case.

The two became friends that summer, kept in touch sporadically and met in the following years at various events on the subject of the Middle Ages.

"They are politically as good as we are"

In October 2019, N. invited his buddy W. to the "Heimat" chat group, in which the other defendants are also said to have been participants.

It's about the Middle Ages, N. promised him, W. says. And: "They are politically in the same way as we are." W. does not explain exactly what that meant.

He emphasizes, however, that he assessed N. as "prudent and sensible".

N. finally invited him to a meeting of the group at his home in Minden. He understood this meeting on February 8, 2020 as a »medieval meeting«, says W., as a planned »merger of various medieval groups«. N. announced that the other guests were members of "Wodans Erben Germanien", "Vikings Security Germania" and the "Brotherhood of Germany". These are right-wing extremist, violent groups.

W. claims to have thought of "the Middle Ages" with the name.

"For me these are clearly Nordic representations," he says.

Such names are "completely normal" in the Middle Ages scene.

The presiding judge wants to know whether he even googled her.

Yes, he did, says W., but

after

the meeting on February 8, 2020. "If I should have looked earlier, I would definitely never have gone there." After all, he has been in the public service for 30 years.

"I stand by the free democratic basic order of our state!"

A saying that clearly contradicts the results of the investigation.

According to the Federal Prosecutor's Office, W. is a supporter of the »Identitarian Movement«, right-wing extremist.

"Something like Christchurch?"

At that meeting in Minden N. showed him his medieval weapons, W. reports in the court. That bored other participants. Little by little, the members of the chat group had arrived, he hadn't known any of them except N. and felt left out. After a joint lunch, the accused Werner S. opened a round of introductions.

The also accused Paul-Ludwig U. had boasted that he had been in jail for 20 years of his life.

“I thought: Huh?

Isn't this about the Middle Ages? ”Says W. in court.

At that time he introduced himself with the words: »I'm Thorsten, 50 years old and come from Hamm.

My hobby is the Middle Ages and photography and I'm in the public sector. ”Some of the people around him had a problem with his employer, so they voted and finally tolerated him.

It was only after the official introductory meeting that "real expressions of displeasure" were made that surprised him, claims W. It was also about demonstrations, money and weapons.

He couldn't remember any details.

When it suddenly came to attacks on mosques, W. claims to have asked: "Something like in Christchurch?" In March 2019, 51 people died and 50 others were injured in a terrorist attack on two mosques.

The group answered his question with silence.

W. wants to have followed up: “Are you serious?

Stop that! ”Again: no reaction.

After that, W. only claims to have heard the "babble of voices" and used the next moment to run away.

"It's too intense for me, I don't want anything to do with the rubbish," he told N. and got into the car.

"I was totally upset."

At that time, the investigators had the men in their sights.

They documented W's curriculum vitae, his habits, his preferences: in 2009 he fell ill with depression, received inpatient treatment, sought help in counseling therapy and stopped being intoxicated with cannabis.

When searching his home, officials found more than 170 grams of marijuana and 15 ready-made joints.

In his spare time W. reads the right-wing magazine "Junge Freiheit", is a member of the "Friends of the Troop Comradeship of the 3rd SS Panzer Division Totenkopf eV" and glorifies the Nazi regime and Adolf Hitler.

Two editions of Mein Kampf were found in W's apartment, model airplanes with swastikas and Nazi devotional items.

»Rigorous turnaround«

Under his profile "Thor Tjark ton Rungholt" W. wrote in a mediaeval forum: "We have to carry out terrorist attacks from time to time in which uninvolved people die." In this way, the entire state and the entire population can be "controlled".

"The primary target of such an attack is not the dead, but the survivors, because they have to be directed and influenced."

The results of the investigation could be useful in classifying W's testimony: In the court, W. admits that he had also "talked about politics and expressed himself critically" with N.

Politics is a broad field, stated the presiding judge.

"Just everyday," replies W.

According to the investigations, W. is said to have emphasized in a telephone conversation with N. that a "rigorous turnaround" was needed "promptly"; he did not want to leave "such a pile of broken glass" on his daughter. He is also said to have written via Telegram after the meeting in Minden N. that he first wanted to "go other ways on a metapolitical level."

Source: spiegel

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