According to everything that the public prosecutor's office listed in its indictment before the youth chamber of the Dresden district court on Friday, the burglary in the Green Vault could not have happened at all. It may have been bad luck for the police that the accused escaped from a police patrol near the scene of the crime during one of their preparatory trips to Dresden. However, someone should have noticed that they were able to climb over the fence of Dresden Castle at least three days or rather nights before the crime, spying out and preparing the crime scene for up to half an hour, as surveillance cameras apparently recorded. But this was not so. That really only allows one conclusion:At least the guards must have either been sleeping or deliberately looking away.

Stephen Locke

Correspondent for Saxony and Thuringia based in Dresden.

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But that's not the only thing that leaves you stunned on Friday when the trial for the stolen jewels from the treasury of the Electors of Saxony begins.

The start is postponed by a good hour because the State Art Collections and thus the Free State of Saxony, as the injured party, have decided spontaneously to appear as joint plaintiffs.

According to the justification, the Free State sees a special need in this because of the serious damage and its great interest in recovering the art treasures.

It is a mystery why those responsible only thought of this three days before the start of the negotiations, since it would have been necessary long ago to gain access to the files.

This is exactly what the defenders criticize:

"We are not in a position to make a decision on this in the short term," the presiding judge sighs and suggests granting the co-plaintiff a "provisional right to be present."

But the defense has its first point.

14 lawyers are representing the six defendants, who are led in handcuffs to the high-security wing of the court shortly before 11 a.m.

Some relatives have made it into the courtroom, they greet, laugh and nod to each other.

The defendants, who were born in Berlin between 1993 and 1999, are German citizens and belong to the extended Remmo family of Arabic origin.

Two of the defendants, 25-year-old Wissam and 23-year-old Ahmed,

have already been sentenced to four and a half years in prison for stealing the 100-kilo gold coin from the Bode Museum in Berlin and are now serving their sentences in Dresden Prison.

Three other men are in custody.