"They should shoot as many escaping people as possible"
The investigators are sure: IS terrorists should carry out a huge bloodbath on behalf of the commanding district of the Islamic state in Düsseldorf. Three of them will now be the process.
Es is the so-called Mumbai scenario, which the security authorities have been afraid of for years: in the narrow and densely filled streets of Düsseldorf's old town, islamist terrorists ignite explosives. More fanatics are already waiting for the fleeing human masses to shoot as many people as possible with rapid firearms. The bloody scenario, named after the attack in 2008 with at least 171 deaths in the Indian metropolis, should have been put into practice in Düsseldorf . According to the federal prosecutor's office, the IS leadership had already ordered mass murder in 2014.
However, Saleh A. (30), the alleged leader of the IS terrorist cell, who was to implement the perfidious plan, revealed himself to the authorities in Paris in February 2016, evidently plagued by consciences. This Wednesday, he has to face two of the suspected 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.
They came disguised as refugees into the country
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 camp in Leimen (Baden-Wuerttemberg). Mahood B. was arrested in
Mülheim an der Ruhr, Hamza C. in Bliesdorf in Brandenburg. Saleh A. was temporarily employed in
Kaarstnear Dusseldorf and also knew the state capital.
The Syrian declares to have refused to obey 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 cruel 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 exits of 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."
"Word agains word"
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."
But the defenders, they say, are doubtful about the accusation: "The alleged leader tells much about himself and his involvement," says lawyer Marvin Schroth, who represents Hamza C. "That may also be true." As far as his client is concerned, however, there is "statement against statement". The prosecution does not even agree with its name and nationality.
So his client was not a Syrian, but an Algerian. And in the period when the indictment in an IS training camp in Syria suspects him, he had 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.