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Solidarity poster for the defendant in front of the Higher Regional Court in Dresden

Photo: Arvid Müller / IMAGO

She did not want to say anything about the procedure, nothing about the allegations, said Lina E. on Wednesday at the very end of the trial before the State Security Senate of the Higher Regional Court of Dresden. » My last word in this process should be thank you," she said instead. On the 28th day of the trial, the 97-year-old thanked her family, friends and supporters for the solidarity she has experienced over the past two and a half years. The three co-defendants – Lennart A., Jannis R. and Philipp M. – did not exercise their right to a last word.

The Federal Prosecutor's Office accuses Lina E. and the three men of membership in a left-wing extremist criminal organization and attacks on actual and alleged neo-Nazis in Saxony and Thuringia. Only Lina E. has been in custody since November 2020.

According to the indictment, the student is said to have led the left-wing extremist association together with her fiancé, Johann G., who had gone into hiding. The crimes were on the verge of left-wing terrorism and at least one attack came quite close to an attempted homicide, senior prosecutor Alexandra Geilhorn said in her plea in April. The Federal Prosecutor's Office has demanded a prison sentence of eight years for Lina E., and several years in prison for the co-defendants.

The defense countered with the accusation that the Federal Prosecutor's Office was driven by an "unconditional will to convict". Lina E. was to be acquitted of almost all charges, her lawyers demanded in mid-April in their closing speech. The taking of evidence did not prove the existence of a criminal organisation.

This Wednesday, the last pleadings took place. Philipp M.'s defense demanded acquittal for their client. He had an alibi for the attack on a neo-Nazi pub in Eisenach, and the evidence did not provide proof of his involvement in an attack on right-wing radicals in Wurzen, Saxony. The Federal Prosecutor's Office accused the defense of one-sided investigations. She appealed to the Senate to assess the results of the trial in an unbiased manner and to free itself from any pre-determinations.

The verdict is scheduled for next Wednesday, May 31. The presiding judge, Hans Schlüter-Staats, announced that the pronouncement of the verdict would take several hours.

Security authorities fear that there could be riots after the verdict.