Tiergarten district court: the public prosecutor's office demanded four years in prison
Photo: Taylan Gökalp/ DPA
Arson attacks, threats, right-wing extremist graffiti: In Berlin-Neukölln, neo-Nazis have been making life hell for residents for years.
A trial before the district court in Berlin-Tiergarten was supposed to clear up the series, but the second main defendant has now also been acquitted of the charge of arson.
Sebastian T. was only sentenced to one and a half years in prison for attaching right-wing extremist stickers and lettering and fraud.
The process comes to an end after half a year.
In the process, the public prosecutor's office accused T. and 39-year-old Tilo P. of first setting fire to the car of a Neukölln bookseller and then that of left-wing politician Ferat Kocak together one night in February 2018.
According to the indictment, they wanted to intimidate people “who are active against right-wing extremism”.
P. was already acquitted of this charge in December.
Instead, the court sentenced him to a fine of 4,500 euros for attaching right-wing extremist graffiti and stickers.
victim spotted
It was similar with T.: It was not enough for an unequivocal conviction for arson, said judge Ulrike Hauser.
The two would have spied on the victims.
"But we don't have anything that would directly link the spying to the arson." Instead, the 36-year-old T. was convicted of affixing right-wing extremist stickers and writing to property damage.
In addition, he was found guilty of fraud.
According to the court, he had given false information when receiving unemployment benefit II.
As a result, he illegally obtained around 11,000 euros.
For his horticultural business, he received 5,000 euros in corona aid without entitlement.
In addition to the one and a half year imprisonment, the court therefore ordered the confiscation of around 16,000 euros.
Overall, however, the verdict fell short of the Attorney General's request of four years in prison.
T.'s defense attorney had pleaded for an acquittal.
The Berlin State Criminal Police Office attributed around 70 criminal offenses to the series of attacks, including at least 14 arson attacks and 35 property damage.
They were mostly committed between June 2016 and March 2019 in Neukölln.
In 2020, the Attorney General took over the investigation into the attacks – on suspicion that a prosecutor could sympathize with the AfD.
Since May, an investigative committee of the Berlin House of Representatives has also been examining failures in the investigation of the series of attacks.
Apr/AFP
