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Former museum director Dirk Syndram: »The jewel sets are something like world cultural heritage«
Photo: ronaldbonss.com / imago images/Max Stein
Ahmed Remmo's defense continues to go on the offensive.
The 24-year-old is accused of having been involved with five other members of the Berlin Remmo clan in the early morning of November 25, 2019 in the burglary of the Dresden Green Vault.
The thieves had stolen jewels of unspeakable art-historical value, the insurance value is estimated at at least 113.8 million euros.
The six brothers and cousins between the ages of 23 and 28 have to face charges of serious gang theft before the Dresden Regional Court.
Defense attorney Lara Wolf presented an alleged alibi for her client last week.
Documents that the public prosecutor's office later submitted to those involved in the trial show that Ahmed Remmo was in the emergency room of a hospital in Berlin until at least 2.46 a.m. on the night of the crime and was by no means, as the indictment says, in the car on the way to Dresden target.
Someday, somehow
Now the public prosecutor's office has commented on the alleged alibi.
Not orally in a public main hearing, but in writing by notification to the court.
Remmo's defense attorney makes sure that the content is known in the process on Tuesday.
According to her account, the public prosecutor's office no longer assumes that Ahmed Remmo and the other accused drove a Mercedes and an Audi from Berlin to Dresden at around 1.35 a.m. and arrived in Dresden at around 3.40 a.m.
Instead, according to the public prosecutor's office, her client should have made his way to Dresden at some point and somehow after 2.45 a.m.
According to Wolf, this not only contradicts the indictment, but also the previous findings from the main hearing.
There has never been any indication of a further trip from Berlin to Dresden on the night of the crime.
With axes in the jewel room
The defense asks the public prosecutor to state on what basis they believe that Ahmed Remmo was involved in the crime.
And she renewed the demand that the proceedings against her client be separated from the proceedings against the five other accused and ended "quickly".
Two of the accused, Wissam and Mohamed Remmo, are said to have climbed through a barred window into the historic Green Vault in Dresden's Residenzschloss shortly before 5 a.m. on November 25, 2019.
The perpetrators ran into the jewel room and used axes to hit the glass of the display case in which Augustus the Strong's treasure was kept.
The director does not use many words
Dirk Syndram, 66, was the director of the Green Vault at the time and has been retired since September 2021.
"The objects are among the most important treasures of art that we have in the European world," he said on Tuesday as a witness in court.
He goes into raptures when he talks about the sets of jewels from the 18th century that could be admired in the most magnificent hall of the historic Green Vault.
"Absolutely spectacular," he says.
»The sets of jewels are something of a World Heritage Site.«
When he was informed of the burglary by telephone that November morning, he immediately drove to the museum.
He was initially not allowed to enter the crime scene and asked a police officer what the display case looked like.
"Empty," it said.
"I was in total shock."
In fact, the showcase was not completely emptied, individual pieces, some fragments, remained.
“Is it still possible to do something art-historically with the remains?” asks the associate judge.
The former director does not use many words.
"Nope," is his reply.
He never expected the possibility of a theft.
"Until the call, I always assumed that it was absolutely safe here." But as an art historian, he is not a security expert.
He speaks of a "tightrope walk".
The jewels should be protected as best as possible and the visitors should still be able to enjoy the treasure in all its glory and without any disturbing barriers.
Whoever entered the Juwelensaal should have the feeling that »one is really immersed in the 18th century«.
“What can perpetrators do with the jewelry?” asks the presiding judge, Andreas Ziegel.
It's a question that should pain the former director.
"I don't think there's a market for something like that," he says. "I actually always thought that nobody in their right mind would think of stealing something like that."
“They don’t really sell that well”
Syndram tells of the remains of the treasure that are left.
»When I saw the diamonds lying on cotton wool, I noticed that some are yellowish and grey.
They don't actually sell that well.” Perhaps he doesn't want to lose hope that the jewels will return one day.
The accused listened with interest to what the former museum director said.
If you know anything about the actual market value of diamonds and brilliants from the Green Vault, keep it to yourself.