Lots of attitude, few criminals – that’s how the defense summed up the trial against Bundeswehr officer Franco A. They demanded acquittal on charges of preparing acts of terrorism. The verdict will be announced in a week.
In the trial against the Bundeswehr officer Franco A., who is suspected of being a terrorist, the defense pleaded for acquittal on the main charge.
When accused of preparing a serious criminal offense endangering the state, the court should decide according to the legal principle “In dubio pro reo” (in case of doubt for the accused), said defense attorney Johannes Hock in his closing speech before the Frankfurt Higher Regional Court. The other allegations against the 33-year-old should be punished with a fine or suspended sentence.
The taking of evidence in the process, which has been ongoing since May last year, brought to light findings that “had a lot to do with attitudes, but little to do with crimes,” said Hock, who also called for the arrest warrant for his client to be lifted.
Last word: Time with the family again
A. himself made use of his right to a last word and, after at times lengthy explanations during the trial, appeared succinct and insightful: he was also to blame for many painful experiences. “I myself contributed to the fact that the process took so long.” But now, above all, he wants to be able to spend time with his family again, said the father of three small children.
Previously, Moritz David Schmitt-Frikke, the second defender, also went to court with the judges in his plea. “The distinction between a state security tribunal and a woke tribunal was not always clear,” he said in his lecture, which primarily became an indictment of the asylum policy. He assigned the role of an inquisition to the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office. Schmitt-Frikke contradicted the prosecution’s allegations that A. had spied on politicians and public figures to prepare attacks.
According to the indictment “a right-wing extremist terrorist”
The representative of the federal prosecutor had demanded a prison sentence of six years and three months in June. Franco A. was “a right-wing extremist terrorist” who had planned attacks on the lives of high-ranking politicians or public figures, said the prosecutor.
Franco A. was arrested at Vienna Airport in February 2017 when he tried to get a loaded pistol from a hiding place in an airport toilet. It is not yet clear where the weapon came from and what he planned to do with it. After his arrest, it also turned out that he had assumed the identity of a Syrian refugee – despite his lack of Arabic knowledge.
Franco A. denies the allegations, but admitted to having stockpiled several weapons and ammunition in case of a collapse of public order in Germany. He has been held in pre-trial detention again since February, having been released when the trial began.
Source: Stern

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