Tue, 22 Dec 2009

Berlin court frees Waldorf students charged with throwing Molotov cocktail

BERLIN (NNA) – Family, friends and supporters of two Berlin Waldorf students, Rigo B. (17) and Yunus K. (20), who have been held on remand for the last seven months on serious criminal charges, reacted with relief to the news that a court had ordered the release of the students from custody.

The two are charged with having thrown a Molotov cocktail at police during the May Day demonstrations earlier this year, but last Thursday the Moabit criminal court ordered them to be set free because it no longer saw sufficient evidence to keep holding them.

The students passionately deny having anything to do with the attack, with their lawyers arguing that this is a case of mistaken identity. Now the court, which as recently as a month ago still ordered their continued detention, has changed its mind and agreed that there are no longer compelling grounds for keeping them on remand. The court did not say what brought about its change of mind.

According to press reports, about 200 people appeared at the hearing in the crowded courtroom. Parents, teachers and fellow students from the two Berlin Waldorf schools Mitte and Zehlendorf had previously organised a well-attended solidarity event under the motto “Freedom for Rigo and Yunus”.

Prosecutors have charged the two with attempted murder, bodily injury due to negligence and a breach of the firearms law. The Molotov cocktail missed its target and hit a female passer-by who suffered serious burns.

Press reports say that this is the most serious charge to have been brought in Berlin so far as the result of a May Day demonstration. If found guilty, Yunus K. could face a maximum sentence of life and Rigo B. ten years under juvenile law.

The Berlin media and prominent politicians have closely followed the case. The prosecution case is based on statements from two policemen with no other corroborating evidence. Witnesses who, according to the defence, described other suspects in great detail and were able to exclude the two students, were rejected as unreliable. “There are many question marks over the policemen’s statements,” the Berlin newspaper taz quotes the defence as saying.

However, now the court has conceded that the policemen might have been wrong.

taz says the May Day demonstrations had “not been this violent for a long time”, with 289 arrests and 479 police injured.

According to the paper, state prosecutor Ralph Knispel rejected accusations that the authorities had bowed to demands in the tabloid press to send a strong deterrent signal.

The prosecution says it accepts the ruling of the court but has not abandoned its case. Evidence will continue to be heard in January.

The Berlin churches had also called for the release of the students from custody, at least over Christmas. Despite being held on remand, the two Waldorf students have continued with their schooling with the support of their teachers and have sat important exams.

End/nna/ung/cva

Links: http://www.taz.de/regional/berlin/aktuell/artikel/1/ein-cocktail-der-viele-fragen-aufwirft/, http://www.berlinonline.de/berliner-zeitung/berlin/149859/149860.php

Item: 091222-01EN Date: 22 December 2009

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