Jewel Heist Trial: No Deal at Any Price

The trial against the alleged jewel thieves from the Green Vault was already on the home straight, but now it could take longer again.

The six accused, all of whom belong to the Berlin Remmo clan, some of which are extremely criminal, suddenly demand that the court follow their rules.

The defendants' lawyers did what lawyers are supposed to do.

However, they significantly expanded their role in the negotiations over the past few days.

What was going on there was less like an orderly process than a haggling like at the bazaar.

Formally, the question was whether questions about the confessions of the accused should be asked and answered orally or in writing.

However, the fact that the question is asked at all shakes the conditions of an understanding, the so-called deal, between the accused, the public prosecutor's office and the court.

The deal is that the defendants can get a discount if they return the looted items and make credible confessions, detailing the plot, the course of the crime, and the whereabouts of the jewelry.

Such an agreement is not defamatory, but has been provided for in the Code of Criminal Procedure since 2009.

It can shorten the taking of evidence and be beneficial to both parties.

The conditions in Dresden are clear, and yet the defense attorneys are now accusing the public prosecutor's office of no longer sticking to the deal since they got what they wanted with the return of the jewelry.

It is rather the other way around, namely that the accused and their lawyers are increasingly giving the impression that their part in the matter has been settled with the handing over of the looted items.

Incomplete and battered jewels

Not even the return is complete.

The showpieces of the loot are still gone, the rest came back incomplete and badly battered.

The damage is still immense.

The confessions of the accused also leave a lot to be desired.

The men have neither said anything substantial about the planning of the crime nor given any information about the whereabouts of the loot.

As for the act itself, they mainly explained what came out of the process that had been going on for a year anyway.

Their clearly agreed statements are apparently mainly used to exonerate one of their co-defendants comprehensively.

It doesn't take much life experience to realize that these confessions are fabricated.

That is why the defenders also resist direct questions and answers in the room.

Then there would presumably be considerable contradictions.

However, it is up to the court to disclose these in order to get as close as possible to the truth.

The presiding judge, who has so far conducted the proceedings in a level-headed and comparatively defensive manner, can therefore not possibly get involved in lengthy written question-and-answer games.

The course of the process so far shows that this is to be expected.

The accused try to fool the court and the public.

One of the accused only remembered after a year and a half in custody that he was in the emergency room of a Berlin clinic at the time of the crime.

A rethinking only began when the evidence developed clearly to the disadvantage of the accused and, in addition, long prison sentences threatened because of the charge of "serious joint arson".

Nevertheless, the court and the prosecution - also because of the overwhelming interest in the return of the jewels - have agreed to an agreement.

Homeopathic Punishments

The court went a long way towards accommodating the accused, also because the criminal part of a clan family is being tried here, and experience has shown that they are unteachable.

The lengthy criminal records of the accused speak volumes, as do the always homeopathic sentences, most of which the district court in Berlin-Tiergarten imposed on them, even for serious criminal offences.

In 2019, the court even waived pre-trial detention against one of the defendants in the proceedings for the theft of the gold coin from Berlin's Bode Museum.

The man who was spared in this way went to Dresden and broke into the Green Vault while the gold coin trial was still taking place against him.

In turn, release from detention – namely for the time between the end of the trial and the legal force of the judgment – ​​is also part of the agreement in Dresden.

If the accused and their defense lawyers succeed in turning the courtroom into a bazaar, the court and the rule of law make themselves look ridiculous.

Given the criminal past of the accused, all demands must be met.

Otherwise there can be no deal.