Life sentence in Bonn train station bomb plot
April 3, 2017
Marco G. was found guilty of attempted murder after an unsuccessful bomb attack on the main train station in Bonn and has been given a life sentence. The higher regional court in Dusseldorf took the extra step of attributing a severe degree of guilt in the conviction, making the sentence the highest possible in Germany and eliminating the possibility of release after 15 years.
The incident occurred in December, 2012 and sparked a city-wide manhunt in Bonn. The bomb did not explode, but according to investigators, the bomb only failed to detonate due to a technical defect. During the trial, defense lawyers brought up the fact that a detonator had never been found.
Three additional defendants, in addition to the 29-year-old Marco G., were found guilty of plotting an assassination attempt on a politician from a far-right party and given sentences between nine-and-a-half and 12 years. This was less than the 11-14 years sought by prosecutors for the remaining three defendants, Enea B. (46), Koray D. (28) und Tayfun S. (27).
The target of the assassination was the former leader - Markus Beisicht - of the extreme right-wing PRO NRW movement, a group with a clear anti-Islam message.
The plots were treated as Islamist-motivated acts of terror, and all four men were also found guilty of forming a terrorist group.
Prosecutors argued that shortly after the failed bomb attempt, Marco G. founded a domestic terror organization that was inspired by an audio recording of an Islamist movement in Uzbekistan. The assassination attempt was in motion in March, 2013 in Leverkusen, but was foiled by police who had been monitoring the defendants for some time.
Defense lawyers for the four men argued that there was insufficient evidence to convict them and had pursued an acquittal.
The four men have been in pretrial custody for over four years. The trial, which had been particularly complex due to the two different charges, stretched over 155 days and heard testimony from 157 witnesses.
mz/msh (dpa)