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Cologne district court
Photo:
Oliver Berg/dpa
The trial against a suspected member of the jewel thieves gang "Pink Panther" has begun in Cologne's district court.
Heavily armed police officers were present in front of and in the court.
The 34-year-old is accused of being involved in three robberies on jewelers in Cologne and on a value transporter in Esslingen in 2015 and 2016.
The loot is said to have been worth more than 700,000 euros.
The slim, dark-haired man is said to belong to a gang accused of a year-long series of hundreds of robberies around the world.
In one of the accused raids on a jeweler in Cologne-Nippes, the perpetrators tied a victim with pink steel shackles, as the prosecutor explained in the indictment.
The accused is also accused of causing dangerous bodily harm.
He is also said to have used an assault rifle during a robbery.
The defendant, who was born in Croatia, had one of his four lawyers explain that he did not want to testify.
He was wanted on an international arrest warrant and arrested at Barcelona Airport in September 2021.
Two months later he was extradited to Germany.
After reading out the indictment, the defense requested that the main hearing be suspended due to incomplete files.
About half an hour after the start of the trial, the hearing was initially interrupted.
kha/dpa
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