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)

