Seven Irish MPs are in Stuttgart to observing the ongoing trial of the #theULM5 and hosting this lunchtime press conference. Real Media collaborated with independent German news co-operative Junge Welt on this livestream of the event.
As we lost live feed just before the end, check back tomorrow if you’d like to watch the whole event.
On September 8th last year, five Berlin-based Palestine Action Germany activists disrupted weapons manufacture and supply at an Elbit Systems Germany factory in Ulm (southern Germany).
They were charged with trespass and property damage at the site, with no suggestion of threatening behaviour or violence, but have also been charged with ‘membership of a criminal organisation’ under controversial Section 129 legislation, which have a striking resemblance to equally ill-defined UK terrorism laws. There is an additional charge, for chanting From The River To The Sea, described as ‘using symbols of an unconstitutional organisation (Hamas)’.
Refused bail from the start, they have been held separately in five different prisons, with harsh restrictions such as long lock-up times and heavily reduced and surveilled visits and mail etc.
The highly politicised and selective use of Section 129 legislation attracted criticism from the UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights Defenders Mary Lawlor, after it was used against climate activists Letzte Generation (the German equivalent of UK groups like Insulate Britain or Just Stop Oil). In much the same way that people have responded to the proscription of Palestine Action in the UK, more than 2000 supporters of ‘Last Generation’ filed ‘self-incrimination’ reports admitting to minor acts of support, mocking the state’s attempt to paint climate activists as dangerous criminals.
The international civil rights monitor Civitus downgraded Germany in 2025 from the already poor “narrowed” to “obstructed”.
Defence lawyer Mathes Breuer addressed the European Parliament about the case on the 6th June, characterising it as a ‘show trial’. Among the many issues he raised is the fact they are being tried in a court designed for terrorists, held behind bulletproof glass with no communication possible with their lawyers. When brought in in front of the press, they are flanked by armed security and held in handcuffs. He told the Parliament there was no justification for these conditions, as there have been no prison violations and absolutely no suggestion of violent behaviour either during the action or in the months in prison since. Breuer characterised the five activists’ actions as lawful under humanitarian and international law, due to the nature of Elbit’s business, but he expressed his grave doubts over the court’s independence and claimed that their treatment violates Articles 5 and 6 of ECHR.
The Presiding Judge, Kathrin Lauchstädt, has not allowed the defence team to appoint an official note-taker, and has also banned pens and pencils from the court (supposedly on security grounds), meaning there will be no comprehensive record useful for appeal. She has also refused to accept communication with the defence lawyers, despite having had email exchanges with the prosecution. She is accused of interfering with press freedom, even withdrawing a defence press pack from journalists at the start of the trial. Her claim that the court’s architecture required the defendants to sit behind glass has been thoroughly undermined by evidence that in May, defendants accused of terrorism were allowed to sit with their lawyers.
Ms Lauchstädt is even accused of leniency towards a prosecutor who has been making mocking gestures and laughing while defence lawyers speak.
Friends, family and even journalists in the public gallery have raised issues about harsh and intimidating treatment from the many armed security guards.
Last week, eighteen members of the Parliament signed an open letter to the EU President Ms von der Leyen expressing their concerns over the fairness of the trial.
Originally the trial was scheduled to last around three months, split across roughly 16 days (this is common in the German justice system), but there are multiple accusations about the judges’ behaviour – arriving very late, ending early, taking long breaks (including two hours for lunch) and so on. As a result, progress has been very slow, and another 28 dates have been added, taking it to January next year, by which time the defendants will have been held 16 months. Given that they filmed themselves at the action and waited for arrest, there can be little need to argue the facts of the case, and the only issues at stake are the legal arguments.
Repeated applications for release have been refused, with the judge making a Kafka-esque ruling that the very fact the defendants are expressing doubts about the fairness of the trial is evidence of their flight risk.
THE ULM 5
Irish citizen Daniel Tatlow-Devally has degrees in philosophy and neuropsychology from their home town Trinity College, and the Humboldt University, Berlin. He was working at Berlin’s Ethnological Museum developing ways to use machine learning to help classify things like endangered species and Indigenous artefacts.
Zo Hailu is a British citizen, still working in prison (with continued support from their university supervisor) on their final year thesis. Before the action they were funding their studies working with children.
The other British citizen, Crow Tricks, was living in Berlin and raising money for Gaza through performing music, while working in kitchens. A keen cyclist, they raised money for a Malawi literacy project with sponsored rides (Land’s End to John O’Groats, and Berlin to Budapest).
Leandra Rollo is a Spanish citizen brought up in Argentina and living in Berlin for many years working as a set designer, writing poetry and caring for animals.
German citizen Vi Kovarbasic is a performer with an academic background in dance and gyrokinesis. They have also been community organising and raising funds for Gazans who have lost their homes in the genocide.
DEMANDS
- Supporters, family and lawyers have issued these demands:
- Monitoring of the trial by international and/or UN witnesses.
- Recusal of the current judges
- Allowing defendants to sit with their lawyers as is normal practice in Germany, and an end to false characterisation of violent risk
- Permissions for a full written or audio record of the proceedings
- Release on bail of the five defendants
