Witness G. in Berlin: "The person can only have been created with the participation of the Russian state"

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Head bowed slightly, a black folder in hand, eyes directed downwards.

The most important witness in one of the most important political trials in recent years goes quickly and purposefully to the middle of the narrow space.

The second day the man testified at the Berlin criminal court in a complex murder trial.

The main issue here is the identity of the accused and his alleged connection to the Russian secret service.

The dark-haired man with slim gold glasses, who grew up in Bulgaria, is the main witness in the so-called zoo murder trial.

His research for the investigative platform Bellingcat made him an important supporter of the police investigation.

It was his revelations that led to the alleged murder of the Georgian Selimchan Changoshvili in August 2019 becoming a political issue between Germany and Russia.

G. handed over his evidence to the German security authorities and was questioned nine times by the police.

His information could put the Russian state in distress.

The identity, age and whereabouts of the witness must remain secret.

The presiding judge Olaf Arnoldi apologetically announced that he would only address him as “Witness G.” or “Mr. G.”.

This is very impersonal, but due to "security".

Also for security reasons, the process is not negotiated in the large hall in the historic main building, as is usually the case, but in the adjoining building.

Because here there is a witness protection room, in which the roughly early 50-year-old G. spends the breaks in negotiations under police protection.

Not involved behind bulletproof glass

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The tall journalist reports in English about his research on the defendant Vadim Krasikov and his alleged alias identity.

The Russian, born in 1965, who is accused of murder, followed the events behind bulletproof glass on these days as well, almost without exception looking straight ahead.

Forensic agents at the scene of the crime in 2019

Source: picture alliance / dpa

Krasikov is accused of having shot the 40-year-old Georgian of Chechen descent, who had lived as an asylum seeker in Germany since the end of 2016, in the Kleiner Tiergarten park with a silencer pistol at close range on August 23, 2019.

Witnesses spoke of some kind of execution.

However, Krasikov not only denies the act.

He doesn't want to be the one who is specifically charged here.

He claims his name is Vadim Sokolov, born in 1970 and a civil engineer.

Source: WORLD infographic

But it is precisely this identity that journalist G. claims to have refuted shortly after the murder in the Tiergarten.

G. found evidence from publicly available sources that there is no man in Russia with such an identity.

The decisive indication that Sokolov is an alias identity was provided by the tax identification number, which Sokolov only received in 2019, which is technically possible, but completely unusual.

Even the employer in St. Petersburg named by Sokolov in a visa does not claim to have known him.

The name is a professional cover identity: "The person Sokolov can only have been created with the participation of the Russian state," said G. on the witness stand.

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From this assumption, the Attorney General derives the motive for the murder.

She assumes that Vadim Krasikov killed Selimchan Changoshvili on behalf of Russian government agencies.

Changoshvili had fought against Russia in the Chechnya war, and according to the prosecution he was considered an enemy of the state.

And so it is in the case, which puts a heavy strain on relations between Germany and Russia, now to the charge of state terrorism.

The co-plaintiffs in the courtroom of the Moabit Criminal Court

Judge Arnoldi asks every detail of the research that G. had done as a journalist.

How he got the cell phone number of said Vadim Sokolov.

Whether and how G. takes care of the security of his sources that provide him with information from non-public databases.

What is the difference between a whistleblower and how much money he paid his sources for certain information.

G. answers all questions calmly and calmly.

Bellingcat pays the equivalent of 20 euros for an extract from the Russian tax register, he explains.

"As an amateur, I had completely different ideas," comments Arnoldi.

The methods of the investigative journalist, who already uncovered the background to the poisoning of Sergei Skriopal and his daughter, revealed the shooting down of the MH17 and, most recently, examined the background to the poison attack on Alexej Navalny, amazed the judge in other places too.

Especially when the journalist reports how the Russian secret service is working to create a new identity for someone.

There is a new surname and a new date of birth.

The first name is usually retained, and something else: "The zodiac sign remains the same", G. explains to the surprised chairman.

“That is very important in Russia.

If someone is asked about it, he must be able to answer immediately. "

How do the judges evaluate the evidence?

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How did the journalist connect Vadim Krasikov to the Tiergarten murder, even though there was talk of a suspect named Sokolov?

G. reports that his team looked for acts with a similar pattern in order to find a possible perpetrator.

They came across a 2013 murder in Moscow.

There a businessman was shot dead by a man on a bicycle in a parking lot.

In connection with this, a Vadim Krasikov was wanted.

When comparing the wanted images, he found that it must be the same man.

The journalist G. also found evidence of a connection between Krasikov and the special unit "Wympel", which was affiliated with the then secret service KGB.

Former members of the Russian domestic secret service FSB are still organized at “Wympel”.

This is precisely what G.'s entire interrogation is ultimately aimed at.

Because the court is hoping for possible evidence in the question: Did the defendant act on behalf of a third party, possibly the Russian state?

G. provides evidence for this thesis with his testimony from the year 2019. Shortly before the act in the zoo, the accused is said to have had close contacts with “Wympel” members and the FSB.

G. relies on metadata of a cell phone that he assigned to Krasikov.

Regular and intensive contact was maintained with 13 representatives of the “Wympel Team” via mobile phone.

"Wympel" President Valery Popov rejected the connection to the murder.

The veterans organization deals with "charitable work", including for children.

"This is amateurism, someone wants to pass this operation off as the work of 'Wympel'," he told the Russian news agency Interfax.

But Popow also said: "If 'Wympel' had worked, nobody would have noticed anything, nobody would have suspected anything."

The decisive factor in the further course of the process and for the judgment will be how the judges around Arnoldi assess the evidence that G. provided.

Above all, the metadata of the cellular connections.

Arnoldi noted: “There is no indication of the content of the talks as to whether a possible attack was discussed in Berlin.

Cooking recipes could also have been exchanged. ”Judges would have“ possibly different standards ”for assessing circumstantial evidence than a journalist.

Witness G. will continue to be questioned on the next two days of the trial.

The verdict is expected in a few weeks.

The federal government had linked its reaction directly to the outcome of these proceedings.