Lina E.: Federal Court of Justice confirms prison sentence for left -wing extremists

The Federal Court of Justice (BGH) has confirmed the several years of prison against left -wing extremist Lina E. for attacks on right -wing extremists. The third criminal senate in Karlsruhe changed the guilty verdict in detail, but without this effect on the total prison sentence of five years and three months.

The Studentin sentenced the Dresden Higher Regional Court in May 2023 to five years and three months in prison. As a member of a criminal left -wing extremist group, she is said to have been involved in several raids on actual and supposed neo -Nazis in East Germany.

E. is said to have held a “outstanding position” in the group. The trial against them and alleged colleagues made headlines nationwide. The judgment triggered violent protests nationwide in the radical left -wing scene. E. himself turned against the Dresden judgment to the BGH, as did the federal prosecutor, which wants to achieve a higher punishment.

In February, the BGH in Karlsruhe therefore negotiated the matter. Both sides applied to cancel different parts of the more than 400 -page judgment and to refer to the new decision.

One argument is that after the Dresden judgment, the BGH has changed its jurisprudence for the evaluation of further acts in the event of membership in a criminal association. The question was also whether E. acted as a ringleader. The OLG had attested her a prominent position in the group, but denied a ring of ringing.

According to the judgment, E. had joined the group in 2018 at the latest. In 2019 and 2020 she was involved in three raids on members of the right -wing radical scene in Saxony and Thuringia and an attack on a canal worker, which the group mistakenly identified as neo -Nazi.

The victims were seriously injured. In addition, she tried to steal two hammers in a hardware store and pushed the shop detective into her stomach. In addition to membership in a criminal association and four -time dangerous bodily harm, E. is therefore also guilty of theft with weapons.

The highest criminal judges in Germany only checked the OLG’s judgment for legal errors. So no witnesses were heard or new evidence was raised. The court had tightened the registration and access regulations for press representatives and spectators for the negotiation. These stricter rules also apply to the announcement.

There were no legal errors, said the presiding judge. In the pronouncement of the judgment, he emphasized: “The means of political argument is the word, not violence.”

Lina E. is currently at large. She was not published by the announcement in Karlsruhe herself. The arrest warrant against you was understood with the Dresden judgment in 2023 under conditions – after two and a half years in custody, it was initially released despite the imprisonment imposed. The remaining penalty now has to serve them because the judgment is final.

How long exactly E. is already in custody must now be calculated. The custody is taken into account, for example.

In addition to E., three men were convicted of participation in the raids in 2023. The BGH still wants to decide on its revisions.

Note: This article has been updated and further information was added.