German acquitted over ‘racist’ bombing 18 years later

DUSSELDORF: An alleged neo-Nazi was acquitted by a German court yesterday for a bombing 18 years ago targeting Jewish immigrants, in what angry victims’ advocates called a historic “legal mistake”. Ralf Spies, 52, was cleared of 12 counts of attempted murder with a “racist” motive and a charge of causing an explosion in the attack at a commuter rail station in the western city of Duesseldorf on July 27, 2000.

The regional court in the city found him not guilty, after having released him from custody in May “for lack of sufficiently reliable testimony” from witnesses, many of whom were in prison with the defendant. The victims were on their way back from a German language course when the explosive, hung in a plastic bag on a fence near the Wehrhahn station entrance, went off, sparking panic.

Ten eastern European migrants — six of them Jews from the former Soviet Union — were injured in the bombing, which shocked Germany and drew international condemnation. A 26-year-old Ukrainian pregnant woman lost her unborn child and had to undergo emergency surgery after the blast ripped off one of her feet. Her 28-year-old husband suffered wounds over his entire body from metal fragments unleashed in the explosion and was in a critical condition for several days.

‘Worst legal mistake’

Chief prosecutor Ralf Herrenbrueck, who had called for a life sentence for Spies, expressed outrage in closing arguments last week that the case appeared to be unraveling. Spies “felt called upon to keep his neighborhood ‘clean’. He wanted to get rid of everything he hated,” Herrenbrueck told the court.

Four lawyers representing victims of the blast pointed to wiretapped telephone calls in which Spies appeared to boast about his involvement in the attack. They had urged presiding judge Rainer Drees to convict Spies, citing a preponderance of evidence. But as it became clear that the trial was heading toward an acquittal, co-plaintiff attorney Juri Rogner said in final arguments that the court was on the verge of “committing the worst legal mistake in the history of Duesseldorf”. —AFP