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One of the accused in the case of the Dresden jewel theft (in January 2022): Long prison sentence threatened
Photo: Jens Schlueter / dpa
"The damage was immense," says the policeman in court.
"Several cars were completely destroyed." The fire in the underground car park in the Pieschen district of Dresden broke out on November 25, 2019 at around 5:15 a.m.
An Audi S6 Avant caught fire, three other cars were caught in the fire and dozens of others were injured.
The investigators counted a total of 61 damaged vehicles.
The underground car park belongs to a residential complex.
The fact that the residents got off relatively lightly is probably only due to chance.
In the burned-out Audi, investigators found burglary tools, a revolver and a piece of a window grille from the Dresden Residenzschloss.
A few minutes before the fire, thieves climbed through that window into the historic Green Vault.
They stole 21 pieces of jewelry with more than 4300 diamonds and brilliants.
The perpetrators are said to have driven the Audi to the underground car park almost five kilometers away.
They are said to have set fire to the car in order to cover their tracks.
According to the indictment, they then drove to Berlin in a Mercedes disguised as a taxi.
Six members of the Berlin Remmo clan have had to answer to the Dresden Regional Court since January for breaking into the Green Vault.
Because of the fire in the underground car park, the public prosecutor's office accuses Abdul Majed, Mohamed, Wissam, Ahmed, and Bashir Remmo as well as Rabieh Remo not only of aggravated gang theft, but also of particularly serious arson.
Arson is considered to be particularly serious if it is intended to cover up another crime, partially destroying a building and endangering people.
For this act alone, a prison sentence of at least five and a maximum of 15 years is imminent.
What happened that November morning in the underground car park was described by several witnesses in court on Tuesday and Friday.
A witness got into her car in the underground parking garage shortly after 5 a.m. to drive to work.
She drove to the exit and pulled a rope to open the roll-up door.
An Audi was parked outside, directly in front of the gate.
The 61-year-old vaguely remembers a man at the wheel on Tuesday.
She cannot say whether there were other people in the car.
The two cars drove through the gate almost at the same time: "I out, he in." The woman concentrated on driving and didn't pay attention to who was sitting in the Audi.
Her thought was that the driver might have had problems with his parking garage key and had therefore waited in front of the roll-up gate, she says.
"You mean, if you hadn't come, wouldn't they have come in?" asks defense attorney Toralf Nöding.
"Or they would have had to wait for the next car," says the witness.
Dense black smoke from the ventilation shafts
The defense sees the accusation of jointly committed particularly serious arson "clearly shaken" by the testimony of the witness.
If the entrance to the underground car park depended on mere chance, then there could have been no common plan to set the Audi on fire in the garage.
The "extreme risk of discovery and identification" at the roller shutter contradicts a sophisticated plan.
The public prosecutor does not want to leave it that way and announces a statement for the coming week.
At around 5:15 a.m. on November 25, 2019, the next woman entered the underground car park.
"It smelled like fire," said the 59-year-old saleswoman in court on Tuesday.
The car alarm went off, then the smoke detector.
“Then the car exploded right under my nose.
It banged.
Then a fireball came out of the corner.
Then I'm out.
Then there were three or four more bangs.” Outside, thick black smoke was rising from the ventilation shafts of the underground car park.
The witness remained physically unharmed.
The experience left its mark mentally.
The witness says that since that morning she has no longer been able to enter cellar rooms and underground car parks without any worries.
»I really panic when I have to go down into the basement.« She probably would never have used the underground car park again, she says.
She wasn't embarrassed: the underground car park is still closed today.
And in May 2021, the witness moved out of her apartment.
According to the interrogation record, the woman had not yet spoken of a "ball of fire" to the police.
She can no longer correctly name the location of the Audi in court.
More than 400,000 euros in damage
The chamber shows photos of the underground car park on Friday.
Burned-out car wrecks, damaged vehicles, a charred revolver and damage to the concrete roof and floor of the underground parking lot can be seen.
The Dresden public prosecutor put the property damage to the cars in their indictment at exactly 171,329.88 euros, plus the damage to the underground car park: 420,972.87 euros.
"The whole apartment was full of smoke," reports another witness.
The former apartment of the now 45-year-old is on the ground floor.
Dense smoke was drawn through the ventilation shafts over the inner courtyard through the open windows.
Smoke also came through pipes in the bathroom.
The witness and his wife were asleep.
His brother-in-law noticed the smoke and woke them both up.
"I coughed, I wasn't feeling so well," says the witness.
The stench in the apartment was persistent.
“We were able to throw away half of our stuff.” His car was in the underground car park, but not much was left of it.
"Total loss."
Defense attorney Ines Kilian pointed out to the witness on Tuesday that the police had "noted anything, absolutely nothing" about damage in his apartment.
The witness is silent at first.
Then he says: "What should I say to that now?"
He photographed the damage in the apartment and also made a video of the smoke.
He wants to submit both to the court later and also release his doctor from the duty of confidentiality.
And his testimony gives further reason for further investigations.
He says one or two other ground floor apartments were also affected.
Those involved in the process are hearing about it for the first time.