The man the sergeants lead into the hearing room that morning is short, blond and wears prison uniform.

Red top, gray pants.

He takes a seat between his defenders, leaves the mask on until all the cameras are gone, then takes it off.

The face that emerges is young: Marvin E. is 20 years old, no longer a legal juvenile, but an adolescent.

The presiding judge therefore points out to the cameramen and photographers that they must make him unrecognizable.

Anna Sophia Lang

Editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.

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That's one.

The other is the public hearing: A court can exclude the public if the person in the dock was under 21 at the time of the crime.

In this case, however, the judges do not.

Because of the importance of the matter, the "significant" interest of the general public prevails, they say.

E. is before the Higher Regional Court because he is said to have tried to set up a terrorist organization.

He is said to have intended to carry out attacks.

He was determined, says the federal prosecutor's office, driven by the ideology of the right-wing extremist organization "Nuclear Weapons Division", whose supporters, like Marvin E. presumably, believe that the white population is being systematically displaced and whose goal is white supremacy.

The North Hessian carpenter apprentice E. from Spangenberg is said to have committed himself to the delusion of causing chaos through attacks by a Hessian terrorist cell and destabilizing the democratic system in order to achieve his goal: a right-wing extremist form of rule.

Jews, Muslims, migrants, representatives of the state should be murdered for it.

What the prosecutors have gathered to prove this, they read out on Tuesday: In July 2021, E. decided to found a Hessian branch of the "Nuclear Weapons Division", created an Instagram profile and email addresses for this and set up a program in which he detailed how he intends to spark a "racial and civil war" within three years.

He wanted to infiltrate social media to create hatred and imagined that five to ten people with him at the helm would be enough to achieve his goals.

According to his alleged idea, the members should have experience with weapons and pyrotechnics.

He wanted to make friends with potential candidates and only "start with the indoctrination" over time.

According to the federal prosecutor, E. felt ahead of a former classmate from the vocational school, with whom he had previously exchanged right-wing extremist content.

Sent pictures and videos related to the "Atomic Weapons Division" and asked if he wanted to join the Hessian branch.

"Yes, ok," the other replied.

In another chat, "AWD Germany", E. complained that it was difficult to get hold of weapons.

In Kassel he had planned a propaganda campaign and asked about the G3 assault rifle online.

According to the indictment, he wanted to commit the attacks with explosive devices, the parts for which he ordered from Amazon: steel balls, fuses, magnesium and sulfur powder and so on.

He manufactured at least 15 large explosive devices, the largest of which had a remote detonator attached.

And: The fact that there was no attack is thanks to the fact that the young man was arrested in mid-September 2021.

He was already looking for potential attack targets on the Internet: schools in Kassel and Essen, a floor plan of the Bundestag.

The trial is scheduled for November.

On the next day of the hearing, E. wants to comment on the allegations.