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Defendant Susanne G. in Munich:
Photo: Sven Hoppe / picture alliance / dpa
Ibrahim Halil K. got a blue envelope out of the mailbox on March 5, 2020.
The 45-year-old is the imam of the Turkish-Islamic community in Röthenbach in the district of Nürnberger Land.
There was a greeting card in the envelope.
On the card was a pink pig with a gold party hat, flowers and hearts around it.
There was a threat in the card.
"You will never be sure!" And a cartridge.
According to the Federal Prosecutor's Office, Susanne G. sent the card with the ammunition.
Investigators found several photos of the mosque on their cell phones.
The Senate of the Munich Higher Regional Court has the pictures shown in the courtroom on Friday.
The white house of prayer can be seen from different distances and from different sides.
The 55-year-old alternative practitioner Susanne G. is said to have not only threatened the Muslim community, but also an association for refugee aid and two local politicians.
According to the Federal Prosecutor's Office, Susanne G. did not intend to leave it at words.
According to the prosecution, she was ready "not only to threaten homicides, but also to carry them out."
On this third day of the trial in the high-security hall in Munich-Stadelheim, those who were supposed to be intimidated by the threats speak.
You act combative.
You don't want the alleged sender to think that she has achieved her destination.
And yet they tell of how their lives have changed as a result of the threats.
This is a weirdo who wants to make himself important.
That, says Ibrahim Halil K., was his first thought when he opened the letter.
He only took the threatening letter really seriously when Susanne G. was arrested and he found out about her contacts.
"When the lady was arrested and I read about her connections in the media, I was very worried," says the imam.
An interpreter translates his words from Turkish into German.
Ibrahim Halil K. does not explain which connections he means. Perhaps Susanne G.'s commitment to the neo-Nazi party »Der III. Path". Or her contacts to Andre E. and Ralf Wohlleben. Andre E. was convicted in 2018 for supporting the right-wing terrorist organization "National Socialist Underground" (NSU), Wohlleben for aiding and abetting nine murders. He helped the NSU terrorists to obtain the pistol with which Uwe Böhnhardt and Uwe Mundlos murdered nine people of Turkish and Greek origin.
The petite woman with shoulder-length gray hair in the dock seems to be well connected in the neo-Nazi scene. Susanne G. even had her rejection of the state stabbed in the skin. "Public enemy" is tattooed on her upper body, along with two submachine guns. "I have seriously thought about going back to Turkey with my family," says Ibrahim Halil K. about the moment when he found out about Susanne G.'s contacts with the right-wing scene.
"
Then I thought further."
He realized that this was exactly the reaction that neo-Nazis wanted.
“That's exactly what these people want.
They want to achieve that. ”But he would not do them the favor.
"I made a promise to myself that I would not grant their wish." And yet, church life has changed.
A mosque in which the door was open to everyone has become a mosque with a locked door.
"If we all pray together, we'll lock the door now," says Recep C., the chairman of the mosque association.
If you want to go in, you have to ring the doorbell.
Recep C. also speaks as a witness in court that day, without an interpreter.
The security precautions in the mosque have been tightened enormously after the threat, he says.
For security reasons, the chairman does not want to say publicly what exactly the congregation has done.
"
It was a shock," says Recep C. "The one with the cartridge hit us really hard." "You took it seriously?" Asks the presiding judge.
“Of course.
That has changed a lot. ”He himself had become more suspicious, more cautious.
When he's on the road, he looks around more often.
He is no longer as open to strangers as he was before.
The parishioners are also afraid.
Many stayed away from the mosque because they no longer felt safe there.
People came back slowly.
The judge asks if there have been any further threats. Recep C. reports an email that came after the card in the same month. "The next cartridge will not come in the mail, but from the pistol," he repeats the words. The associate judge asks whether he has any idea who sent him the mail. Recep C. replies that he assumed that the card and mail came from the same sender. The public prosecutor apparently doesn't believe that, he says. At some point he learned that the investigation had been stopped because of the mail.
The associate judge reads out the sender's email address. It contains the name Tobias R. The name says nothing to him, says Recep C. He only learns that it is the name of the Hanau attacker who shot ten people and himself in February 2020 when defense attorney Nicole Schneider tells him.
The next witness, Claudia B., suddenly found a card with a cartridge in the mailbox. The date on the card was April 4, 2020, along with the announcement: "See you." 57-year-old B. is the chairman of an association that is involved in refugee aid in Eckental in Central Franconia. Eckental is only around 15 kilometers from Röthenbach. The refugee initiative had planned a festival for April 4, 2020, "a huge festival," as the witness says. The message was therefore clear to them. "We clearly saw this as a threat."
At the time, she only informed her deputy about the card.
She said nothing to the refugees, not even to the members of the association.
"It's enough if I get a shock," she says.
"I didn't mean to spread fear and terror as the lady wanted." She looks at the defendant.
The judge advises Claudia B. that it still has to be proven whether the accused is really the perpetrator.
That's right, says the witness and corrects herself: "How presumably the lady wanted it."
By the way, they canceled the big party at the time.
Not because of the threat, but because of Corona.
Claudia B. says she was happy about this reason for rejection.
"This enabled us to keep fear and horror as small as possible."
