Judgment in the Lina E. case: 5 years and 3 months in prison – the left-wing autonomous scene announces reactions

After almost a hundred days of trial, the Dresden Higher Regional Court sentenced 28-year-old Lina E. to five years and three months in prison for her membership in a criminal organization. Her co-accused, three young autonomists from Berlin and Leipzig, received prison sentences of varying lengths, from two years and five months to three years and three months, also because of their membership or support of a criminal organization.

The final judgment against Lina E. remains under the demand of the federal prosecutor, who had demanded eight years in prison for the left-wing extremist. The federal prosecutor accused all of the accused of forming a criminal organization and six serious attacks on right-wing extremists committed between 2018 and 2020 in Leipzig, Wurzen and Eisenach. The entire list of allegations against Lina E. is: abetting dangerous bodily harm, particularly serious breaches of the peace, robbery, theft, property damage, forgery of documents and membership in a criminal organization. The daily News describes the convict in an online post as “a left-wing symbolic figure”. The Frankfurter Rundschau headlined the verdict: “Judgment against neo-Nazi hunter: Lina E. must be imprisoned for five years”.

The main defendant has been in custody since November 2020. The three other suspects were at large. According to the Picture-Zeitung, process observers and supporters of Lina E. who were present when the verdict was pronounced then called in the courtroom: “Fascho friends”, “pig system” and “fire and flame of repression”. The ZDF-Reporter Thomas Bärsch refers to an assessment of the defense counsel for the accused in an article about the trial:

“They claim that the testimonies of the witnesses could also be implausible, because most of them were extreme right-wing neo-Nazis who wanted to cause as much damage as possible to the accused through their testimony.”

A representative of the party Die Linke, himself a member of the Presidium of the Berlin House of Representatives and at the same time a deputy member of his party in the Committee for the Protection of the Constitution, commented on the verdict on Twitter as follows:

“Solidarity with Lina E. Anyone who organizes against the Nazis is not criminal but is criminalized! This shows once again how little Germany has learned from its own history. Against the criminalization of anti-fascism.”

Federal prosecutor sees allegation of criminal association in the process of Lina E. confirmed

In the left spectrum of Germany, demonstrations were already held in advance throughout Germany as a reaction to the judgment expected for today announced, including in Dresden, Leipzig, Berlin, Hamburg, Bremen, Bielefeld, Stuttgart and Cologne. The Leipzig newspaper knew to report that the “Day X” large-scale demonstration in Leipzig, which the supporters scene had registered for Saturday, will in all likelihood be banned. It is already said that “the organizers were informed by telephone on Tuesday”. It goes on to say a warning in this regard on the left website indymedia:

“If we don’t manage to push through the demo in Connewitz despite a ban, we will take action in a decentralized manner in the city area.”

The Leipzig police are therefore expecting the largest police operation in two years. Since there are already militant calls and massive announcements of violence, the police are “preparing for an action that is sometimes unpeaceful with a high potential for damage,” said the Leipzig police department on Tuesday.

In addition to the expected actions by leftists, there are also major events in Leipzig in the same period, such as the city festival and a concert with Herbert Grönemeyer.

The process, which was carried out under high security precautions, began in September 2021. A key witness had heavily incriminated the accused. According to the indictment, the suspects injured a total of 13 people, two of them potentially life-threatening.

more on the subject – Left-wing extremists want to set a “militant sign” after the verdict in the trial against Lina E