International Newsletter #1 - September 1994 (Updated Version) Stop The Murder Trial In Berlin! Freedom For Fatma, Abidin, Mehmet, Seyho, Carlo, Erkan and Bazdin! A call for a day of international solidarity activities on behalf of the 7 imprisoned Kurdish and Turkish anti-fascists in Berlin, Germany. Supporters and relatives of the imprisoned seven antifascists and youths are concerned over the fact that the trial might take place behind closed doors. Apparently, the presiding judge, Mrs. Eschenhagen, is contemplating the exclusion of the public throughout the whole trial (see below). On September 20, 1994, one of the biggest trials against anti-fascists and politically organized immigrants since 1945 will start in Berlin. Four Turkish and Kurdish antifascists - Fatma, Abidin, Mehmet and Seyho, one German anti-fascist, Carlo, and two youths Erkan and Bazdin - are being charged with the alleged "premeditated collective murder and six attempted murders." What happened: In April 1992 a group of fascist cadres from offshoot organizations of the Republikaner Party, among them functionaries from the DL (Deutsche Liga fuer Volk und Heimat - German League for Folk and Nation, an organizational alliance between militant fascists, right-wing conservatives and representatives of the New Right) met in a Chinese restaurant in the Berlin neighbourhood of Neukolln. Neukolln is a neighbourhood with a high ratio of Turkish, Kurdish and other immigrant citizens. The fascists - among them the infamous lawyer Carsten Pagel - were discussing plans and financing for German fascist expansions in eastern Europe. By coincidence the meeting was discovered and a spontaneous mobilization to prevent the meeting took place. Outrage existed that in a climate of fascist and racist terror a group of nazi functionaries would meet in their neighbourhood. The meeting was attacked by a group of masked people in a spontaneous anti-fascist action. During the attack, one fascist Gerhard Kaindl, secretary of the DL, was severely hurt with a knife and subsequently died. Another fascist Thorsten Thaler (from the Hoffman-von Fallersleben Think Tank) was injured. Immediately after the incident, the police, state security forces and the media claimed that the perpetrators could only come from Turkish or Arabic circles - even though they were partially masked. A first wave of intense repression was set in motion. A special commission was established with 20 members. Houses of politically active antifascist Turkish and Kurdish persons were watched and raided. The main target of the repression became the Turkish-Kurdish organization "Antifascist Genclik" (Antifascist Youth). Antifascist Genclik had been partially successful in organizing Turkish and Kurdish youth gangs politically and claiming the right to anti-racist/anti-fascist self-defence for immigrants, refugees and other people of colour. From the start of the investigation, certain elements of the police force cooperated closely with the fascists from the DL. Already in October 1992, a representative of the Hoffman-von Fallersleben-Think Tank admitted that he was handed a list of alleged perpetrators by the police during a witness interrogation. In June 1994, the DL announces in their newspaper that the names and addresses of the alleged perpetrators can be obtained from their office. Then, in November 1993, the 18 year old, Erkan, handed himself to the police, claiming that he participated in the attack on Kaindl, and that he would give testimony on the other participants. For two weeks Erkan was held by the police without any contact to lawyers. It was during that time, that Erkan made his statements against 10 other people. Shortly after a lawyer was able to visit him, he stopped cooperating with the police. To this day it is unclear what happened to Erkan during those first two weeks in police custody. Erkan has had a history of mental illness. His illness grew worse in prison; over New Years 93/94 he attempted suicide. He was then placed in a psychiatric prison ward and later on declared to be "unfit for prison" and temporarily released to a closed psychiatric treatment centre in Berlin. Due to Erkan's statements, the police arrested Fatma (22) and Mehmet (32). Two days after their arrests Abidin (34) handed himself over to the police. Two weeks later Bazdin (20) was arrested. Bazdin also cooperated with the police and gave statements against the other 10 accused. In July 1994, another Kurdish antifascist, Seyho, handed himself over to the police and in August 1994, the German antifascist Carlo also gave himself up to the police. Both of them have not given any testimony to the police. They are facing the same charges as the other five and will be put on trial with them. Beyond that the police are still searching for four more Kurdish, Turkish and German anti- fascists. During the arrests of Fatma and Mehmet, police threatened their relatives and friends. Especially for Fatma, the racist special treatment has continued in jail, where she was held in isolation for the first 3 months. In April 1994, the state prosecutor, Nielson, handed down the indictment. The indictment is based exclusively on the testimony of Erkan and Bazdin. The Trial Judge Eschenhagen has announced the beginning of the trial for September 20th. The trial is scheduled to take at least until the end of 1994 and might take place in the high security wing of the courthouse (with glass cages in the courtroom for the accused, etc.) The five accused are facing a life sentence (up to 20 years in jail) and deportation to Turkey afterwards. At this point Judge Eschenghagen is contemplating the exclusion of the public from the courtroom throughout the whole trial. That would mean that no one would be able to enter the courtroom - except for the three judges, the state prosecutor, the seven imprisoned accused and their lawyers as well as the fascist witnesses. The media, any human rights activists and international observers as well as the relatives and supporters of the accused would be barred from observing the trial. In a trial, * where the state prosecution will rely heavily on the statements of the two crown witnesses Bazdin and Erkan, * where certain elements of the investigation forces, the Berlin police and the Secret Service, have cooperated with the DL, * where the charges could result in sentences up to life imprisonment and extradition to Turkey afterwards, the contemplations of the presiding judge, Mrs. Eschenhagen, are a cause of grave concern to the accused and their supporters and relatives. Fascist Terror And The State's Complicity Since 1990, fascists and racists have killed at least 75 people - immigrants, refugees, homeless, disabled and young anti-fascists - in Germany; thousands of attacks and firebombings have been aimed particularly at immigrants and refugees as well as against the small Jewish community. In 1991/1992 i.e., the pogrom in Hoyerswerda took place. Mete Eksi, a Turkish youth was killed on the street by racists in Berlin. The situation was and has been escalated to a point where internationally known Jewish writer Ralf Giordano publicly called on all Jewish people and other victims of fascist terror to arm themselves, because they could not rely on the German state for protection. The media and the government have been and are fuelling a fascist ideology; the daily terror is being down-played and the victims are being blamed - by the colour of their skin or their nationality they are being turned into scapegoats. The government is using the fascists in order to create a climate of overboard nationalism and chauvinism. Similarly, elements of the governing parties openly support German revisionism and rewriting of history, questioning the borders to Poland again, for example. Despite the unabated wave of racist and fascist murders and terror the German government, state forces and media have declared so-called "organized crime by foreigners", immigrants, refugees, leftists and all others who stand up against racism and fascism to be the "inner enemy", threatening the order and security of the German state. In contrast the murders of immigrant women and children in Moelln or Solingen are being called "lost youth", "drunk at the time of their action" and the "losers of German reunification" and dealt with accordingly with mere slaps on their wrists. At this point all elements of the German state are acting in complicity with organized fascists: During the pogroms in Hoyerswerda, Rostock and Magdeburg, German police looked on while a racist mob chased people of colour in the streets or actively took sides with the fascists, by arresting refugees and immigrants who dared to defend themselves. Racism within the state security forces is fashionable and accepted: In Berlin and the state of Brandenburg, at least 15 Vietnamese citizens were systematically tortured in several police precincts - cigarettes were extinguished on their bodies, plastic bags were placed over their heads and they were threatened with death and rape. The Jewish community of Berlin has stated publicly that they do not feel protected against the growing wave of anti-semitic attacks by a police that often refuses to even record complaints. The German justice system has a fascist continuity and continues along theses lines: One of many examples is the case of former Waffen SS-Major- General Wilhelm Mohnke. Mohnke (82) was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Allied prisoners of war and the defense of the Fuhrerbunker in 1945. Even though in 1994, British officials released further evidentiary material, the German state prosecutor has not wanted to open a case for the last 49 years. Meanwhile, a German court in 1992 sentenced the 76 year old anti-fascist Gerhard Bogelein to life in prison for having allegedly killed a former Wehrmacht judge in a Soviet prison camp in 1947 - despite the fact that no direct evidence existed. Gerhard Bogelein died in 1993 due to the consequences of his imprisonment. Berlin is just one example of a city where members of the government apparatus are closely cooperating with the organizations of the New Right. The latest scandal in a long line: Hans-Ulrich Bonfert, spokesperson for Christian Democrat Senator of the Interior Heckelmann, attended an open and internal strategy meeting with representatives of circles from the Republikaner party and the DL. The consequences have been mild: Bonfert has been placed in a different position inside the state apparatus. Senator Heckelmann, responsible for overseeing the police apparatus, i.e., also for the special police commission on Kaindl's death, the state security apparatus and the secret service, had to hand the secret service over to Berlin's Christian Democratic mayor. What Does This Trial Mean? The charges are sending a clear message: Do not dare to intervene against fascists and racists or you will be charged with murder or attempted murder. Any attempts by refugees and immigrants for political self-determination and autonomous organization is being threatened with criminalization - be it anti-fascist immigrant organizing or support for the Kurdish liberation struggle. The trial will take place during the "hot phase" of the national general elections. Already, the governing parties CDU/CSU and FDP are campaigning on "Law and Order" slogans and the demand for a strong state with severely limited civil rights, especially for immigrants and refugees as well as the left opposition. The trial is to serve as an example of that strategy. Remember: * This trial is the result of a campaign by state forces to criminalize mainly immigrant anti-fascists and their organizing for self-determination and self- defense in a country where racist and fascist terror is being openly supported by the state and where fascist killers are being dealt with as "apolitical youth.' * It is rather evident that certain elements of the police have cooperated with the fascists from the DL during the investigation of Kaindl's death. * The DL is not just one fascist organization among many, but a link between the parliamentarian wing of the fascist Right and the militant right-wing terror scene. * The indictment charges ten people with "premeditated collective murder and attempted murder." Thereby, no individual evidence has to be presented for the court to decare everyone who was present at the scene. * The indictment is based exclusively on the statements of two youths, and one of them has a history of mental illness. * The trial is one in a row of trials against active anti-fascists and it is being used to intimidate the whole anti-fascist movements as well as to split the movement along the lines of "militant self-defense versus trust in the state forces." Do Not Leave Fatma, Abidin, Mehmet, Seyho, Carlo, Erkan And Bazdin In The Hands Of The German "Justice" System! Protest At Your Local German Institution - Consulate, Embassy, Chamber Of Commerce, Goethe Institute, German Banks And Multinationals, Etc, On September 19th! Write Letters Of Protest And Support To State Prosecutor Nielson Send Faxes (49-30-39792010) Of Solidarity On The First Day Of The Trial, September 20th To The Court! For more information and contact to friends and supporters of the 5 anti- fascists: Prozessbuero c/o International Solidarity Group Dieffenbachstrasse 33 D-10967 Berlin Germany Telephone and Fax: ++49-30-694 93 54 or Fax ++49-30-786 99 84 E-mail: PROZESSBUERO@LINK-B36.berlinet.in-berlin.de (Leave messages or call on monday from 14.00-20.00)