In November 2022, a man throws a Molotov cocktail at a school. The attack is actually said to have targeted a synagogue. The court is convinced that Iranian authorities were also involved.
A 36-year-old was sentenced to two years and nine months in prison for the arson attack on a Bochum school that was actually intended to target the synagogue.
The German-Iranian was found guilty by the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court of conspiring to commit aggravated arson and attempted arson.
He is said to have accepted the order from a former Hells Angels rocker who was wanted for murder and who had fled to Iran. The court was convinced that Iranian authorities were behind this. The court also assumes that an arson attack and shots at the rabbi’s house in Essen were related and that it was a coordinated action to stir up uncertainty in Germany.
The synagogue appeared to the defendant to be too well secured
The defendant shares the anti-Israel stance of the Iranian regime. According to the court, he only threw the incendiary device at the neighboring school because the synagogue seemed too well secured to him. Shortly before the crime, his client wrote to the defendant from Iran: “Brother, if you don’t want to, let me know so that I don’t get embarrassed here.”
With the verdict, the court agreed with the Federal Prosecutor’s Office’s criminal complaint. The defense had requested a six-month suspended prison sentence for property damage.
The attack was solved because an acquaintance, whom the 36-year-old wanted to recruit as an accomplice, went to the police instead. In addition, cell phone data and intercepted phone calls revealed the plans.
The defendant confessed to throwing the Molotov cocktail at the school, but denied that the attack was actually intended to target the synagogue. The arson attack on November 17th last year caused minor damage to the school building.
Source: Stern
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