The Prosecution of Reiner Fuellmich: Court Hearing Update 31st Day in Court
During a semi-road trip, visiting two key places in the hills of Göttingen, independent journalists Kerstin Heusinger and Djamila le Pair discuss the events of the 31st day in court. It being a Friday meant that it was another half a day hearing. Remarkably, before the judges even opened the session, it already got suspended for half an hour (which became 50 minutes). The defence lawyers submitted two requests to hear (two) witnesses, of which one was rejected. The other, key witness Marcel Templin, was not able to attend. Reiner himself concluded the morning by asking the court if they were aware of some of the files in his dossier, as he is unearthing more evidence of his prosecution being indeed politically motivated, rather than being a pursuit on criminal grounds.
Reiner Fuellmich issues four written statements
By Rhoda Wilson on October 7, 2024
It has been almost one year since Dr. Reiner Fuellmich’s kidnapping from Mexico. In less than a week, it will be a year.
Dr. Reiner Füllmich (or Fuellmich) has been in custody for nearly 12 months after being arrested at Frankfurt Airport on 13 October 2023. Since early May 2024, he has been kept in solitary confinement. And when he appears in court his wrists and ankles are shackled and the courtroom is under heavily armed guard.
“The security measures ordered during the trial and in the defendant’s pre-trial detention are reminiscent of the criminal trials of earlier years against the RAF [Red Army Faction] terrorists,” defence attorney Katja Wörmer said.
In written statements recently released by Fuellmich, he said he had been denied his right to freedom of expression during his hearings and the presiding judge, along with others, has engaged in the obstruction of justice.
AfA press release 23 August 2024: Immediate release of lawyer Dr. Reiner Füllmich
The following has been translated from German to English using an online translator.
Göttingen lawyer Dr. Reiner Füllmich has now been in custody for over 10 months [now nearly 12 months] after he was arrested at Frankfurt Airport on 13 October 2023. The maximum duration for pre-trial detention in Germany may in principle be “only” 6 months (§ 121 para. 1 StPO). “There are no special or important reasons for extending the pre-trial detention beyond the 6 months,” said defence attorney Katja Wörmer in a statement to the Lawyers for Enlightenment.
Dr. Reiner Füllmich had previously been “kidnapped” from Mexico, where he had been staying until then. There was only one German and one European arrest warrant against him. A lengthy international extradition procedure was to be circumvented. For this purpose, the Göttingen public prosecutor’s office worked closely with liaison officers from the LKA Interpol Lower Saxony and the Federal Criminal Police Office, who were on-site in Mexico. They exchanged views on the “pretext” under which “pretext” “Reiner Füllmich” could be “lured” into the Mexican consulate so that he could sign his passport and then have him arrested by the Mexican migration authorities. This was done trickily on 11 October 2023.
“The unlawful expulsion from Mexico without a valid legal basis has been pointed out several times by the defence and also by Dr. Reiner Füllmich himself, already in the first presentation date before the Göttingen District Court and later repeatedly during the main hearings,” said lawyer Wörmer. “The kidnapping of my client from Mexico to Frankfurt raises significant national and international legal questions that stand in the way of continuing his pre-trial detention,” explains Katja Wörmer.
In the Rosdorf prison near Göttingen, Dr. Reiner Füllmich is isolated from all fellow prisoners, he has to carry out the daily courtyard walks alone, and he is completely forbidden to talk or otherwise contact his fellow prisoners. He is only allowed to make phone calls to his defence attorneys if the other prisoners on his ward are in their cells. Private visits are limited to 3 hours per month.
But not only the questionable deportation of Dr. Reiner Füllmich from Mexico and the long pre-trial detention with disproportionate prison conditions, but above all the criminal trial before the Göttingen Regional Court on suspicion of embezzlement has long since gone beyond the usual framework of criminal proceedings under the rule of law. The defence is convinced that this is a purely political trial and that one of the most prominent critics of Corona measures is to be muzzled in the long term.
During the trial, the court suddenly exchanged the legal and factual prerequisites for criminal liability without giving the defendant a legal hearing. All motions for bias against the presiding judge and the other members of the criminal chamber were rejected.
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Dr Reiner Fuellmich 27 Sep 2024
Who would have guessed it? The police file on Reiner didn't have "Embezzlement" or "Theft" or "Fraud", no, it had "Corona" on the first page, quite cleverly hidden away, but Reiner found it! Here he speaks about his case, what he found out recently, as well as world affairs, with his usual clarity and unwavering determination and optimism. Sadly, this month, October 2024, will be one year since his capture and imprisonment.
‘Persecution in Prison’ by Dr. Reiner Fuellmich
By Rhoda Wilson on October 11, 2024
Dr. Reiner Fuellmich, who has been in a German prison for a year after being kidnapped in Mexico by German authorities, has written about what life is like for him in prison.
“Prison officials told me that they had never seen a defendant be held in pre-trial detention for more than 11 months for a simple offence (and not for a serious crime or an act of terrorism), held in solitary confinement and, most importantly, brought to court hearings handcuffed and shackled,” he writes.
Reiner Fuellmich – Political Prisoner
The following was published by Laufpass on 10 October 2024. The article is in German, we have used an online translator to translate it into English.
A report by Dr. Reiner Fuellmich on his prison conditions in the Göttingen high-security prison Rosdorf, in response to the author Kerstin Heusinger, Germany correspondent of the French-language online publication BAM! With exclusive photos from the courtroom and sketches.
The following is by Dr. Reiner Fuellmich
7:00 am Court Hearing for the Civil Rights Activist and Lawyer Dr. Reiner Fuellmich
Heavily armed officers with pistols and submachine guns equipped with bulletproof vests welcome me. They try to convince me to put on a bulletproof vest, which I consistently refuse. They then have me sign a waiver that releases them from liability if I am injured or killed by gunfire.
One of the officers searches my body and then forces me to kneel on a stool as he does every time while he puts shackles on me.
He ties a wide leather belt around my waist and then puts handcuffs on me, which are attached to the belt with chains, which in turn are secured with a large padlock.
The ankle shackles force me to take very small steps, which makes it difficult to get in and out of the transport vehicle. If I stumbled like this, I wouldn’t be able to catch my fall and would probably break my wrists.
Prison officials told me that they had never seen a defendant be held in pre-trial detention for more than 11 months for a simple offence (and not for a serious crime or an act of terrorism), held in solitary confinement and, most importantly, brought to court hearings handcuffed and shackled.
In the court, I was taken to the basement, to a tiled cell with a simple wooden bench, the basement is cynically called “the cellar.” Renewed body search. Then I have to wait until I am led into the courtroom in handcuffs. Every time the trial is interrupted, I am handcuffed again and taken “to the basement” again.
Every time I returned from the court, I was completely stripped in a transit room to conduct a thorough body search.