The investigators are certain: terrorists should carry out a huge massacre on behalf of the commanding district of the "Islamic Sta...
The investigators are certain: terrorists should carry out a huge massacre on behalf of the commanding district of the "Islamic State" in Düsseldorf. Three of them will now be the process.
It is the so-called Mumbai scenario, which the security authorities have been afraid of for years: in the narrow and densely filled streets of the Old Town of Düsseldorf, Islamic terrorists ignite explosive vests. More fanatics are already waiting for the fleeing human masses to shoot as many people as possible with rapid firearms.
This bloody vision, named after the attack in 2008, with at least 171 deaths in the Indian metropolis of Mumbai, was to be put into practice in Düsseldorf. According to the prosecutor's office, the terrorist Islamic state (IS) ordered the mass murder already in 2014. However, Saleh A. (30), presumed leader of the commissioned IS terrorist cell, revealed to the authorities in Paris in February 2016 - probably plagued by consciences.
Disguised as refugees
A. must have two presumed terrorists, Hamza C. (29) and Mahood B. (26), before the Düsseldorf Oberlandesgericht. They are accused of IS membership and the appointment to a crime. Abd Arahman A. (31), who is said to have produced explosives vests, is prosecuted separately.
According to the accusation, Saleh received the order in Syrian Rakka. A German IS man, who used to live in Dusseldorf, had promised a map with the localities. Saleh A. and Hamza C. are said to have come to Germany via the Balkan route, camouflaged as refugees.
Abd Arahman A. was caught in an asylum seeker accommodation in Leimen (Baden-Wuerttemberg). Mahood B. was arrested in Mülheim / Ruhr, Hamza C. in Bliesdorf in Brandenburg. Saleh A. was temporarily employed in Kaarst near Dusseldorf and also knew the state capital.
Attack on Duesseldorf old town
The Syrian declares that he has initially refused to swear allegiance to the IS. But a shot in the shoulder, detention and rehabilitation camps had made him brittle. Already in Syria he had killed in 2013: the sniper who had his brother on his conscience. That is why he is also charged with manslaughter.
The IS order for the Rhenish amusement mile, also known as "the longest bar in the world", had caused a break in June 2016 when the three presumed accomplices were arrested. According to the Bundesgerichtshof, a total of ten terrorists should be deployed - two suicide bombers and two terrorists each at four outlets in the old town. "They should shoot as many fleeing people as possible, and after the emptying of their magazines finally blow themselves in the air."
According to this, even the ideal day of the week was fixed. The attack was to be carried out on a Friday or Saturday, "because the Old Town of Düsseldorf is regularly aired on these days."
Clarity in 36 days?
But the defenders - if they speak - doubt the accusation: "The alleged leader tells a lot about himself and his involvement," says lawyer Marvin Schroth, who represents Hamza C. "That may well be the case." As far as his client is concerned, however, "statement against statement" stands. The prosecution did not even agree with its name and nationality.
So his client was not a Syrian, but an Algerian. And in the period when the accusation in an IS training camp in Syria suspects him, he has done his military service in Algeria.
The process in the high-security sector is managed by the experienced chairwoman, Barbara Havliza. It has already led several trials against IS and al-Qaeda terrorists. 36 trials are scheduled for the end of the year.
At the start of the process on Wednesday, only one of the three defendants will comment on the allegations: Saleh A., who had started the proceedings with his statements.
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