Archive/File: fascism/germany dpa.0494   
Last-Modified: 1994/04/22

Article: 28812 of soc.culture.german
Xref: oneb soc.culture.german:28812 soc.culture.europe:24892
Newsgroups: soc.culture.german,soc.culture.europe,eunet.politics
Subject: Germany:NEW ARSON ATTACKS/SOLINGEN TRIAL
Message-ID: <1994Apr21.143735.1@ittpub.nl>
From: sinan@ittpub.nl
Date: 21 Apr 94 14:37:35 GMT
Organization: ITT Publitec R+D BV, Amsterdam

(fwd)
                      
Doctors fight for lives of Turkish woman, child after arson 
attack 

GOETTINGEN, GERMANY (APRIL 20) DPA - Doctors were Wednesday 
battling for the lives of a young Turkish woman and her two-
year-old child who where both critically injured in an arson 
attack overnight. 

Police said a suspected arsonist set fire in the staircase 
of the three-storey house in the western German city of 
Goettingen. 

Police saw the attack in connection with a string of arson 
attacks carried out in Goettingen since last August. Police 
believe that a lone attacker is behind the fires. 

Although Wednesday's blaze was brought under control 
relatively quickly the 20-year-old mother and her child were 
critically injured when they inhaled smoke that seeped into 
their flat through an open door. A 26-year Turkish man 
escaped the flames by scrambling onto the roof of the 
building inhabited mainly by Germans. dpa mu 






SOLINGEN TRIAL CONTINUES

============== Background
The trial of the two youths and two young adult men charged 
with murders of five Turkish women and girls in Solingen.

It was the worst attack in a wave of anti-foreigner violence 
that swept Germany starting in 1990 and took the form of 
arson attempts on hostels for asylum-aseekers and physical 
assaults on foreigners. 

Three girls aged four, nine and 12, and an 18-year-old girl 
perished in the blaze which destroyed the house where 19 
Turkish people were sleeping in the early hours of May 29. 

A 27-year-old woman died from injuries received in jumping 
from a top-floor window, and ten more people including a 6-
month-old infant were injured, some seriously. 
===============




DUSSELDORF, GERMANY (APRIL 20) DPA - A young former skinhead 
facing five counts of murder, attempted murder and arson 
told a German court Wednesday he was not involved in the 
torching of a Turkish family's house last May 29 which 
claimed five lives. 

"I didn't do it," said the 21-year-old, on trial with three 
other minors and a 24-year-old adult in connection with the 
fiery attack which made headlines worldwide last year as the 
most grisly act of rightwing violence in post-war German 
history. 

Since the defendant was a minor at the time of the offence, 
his name is not being divulged in keeping with German law 
against identifying minors involved in criminal proceedings. 

In hours of testimony on the third day of proceedings 
Wednesday he told the 6th Superior Criminal Court in 
Dusseldorf that he and two of the defendants were drinking 
at a friend's house far from the scene of the crime in 
downtown Solingen on the evening of the attack. 

He said he did not arrive in the middle of town until about 
2:15 a.m., when he called his mother for a ride home. Police 
say fire broke out at the house in the centre of Soligen at 
1:38 a.m. 

After being driven home by his mother, he added, "I went to 
bed and fell asleep. I was surprised when I was arrested a 
few days later, because I didn't do it," the 21-year-old 
said. "I hope the truth comes out." 

In earlier testimony, a 16-year-old defendant also denied 
participation in the torching. But the one adult defendant, 
Markus Gartmann, 24, admitted to the court in early 
testimony that he and the other three defendants had set the 
fatal fire. 

Wednesday's testimony by the 21-year-old provided an outline 
of his past as a problem child and rightwing skinhead. 

"I admit I used to be a skinhead," he told the court. "But 
that was just a phase I went through. It was just a rush, 
just alcohol, sex and fun. But I was never into the anti-
foreign thing and running around shouting 'sieg heil'. 
Anyway, I'm over all of that now, and no way am I a racist," 
he testified. 

However, Presiding Judge Wolfgang Steffen read aloud from 
the defendant's diary, in which the 21-year-old wrote of 
"foreigner swine" who were "doomed to burn". 

In response, the defendant said he is now "deeply very 
sorry" about the diary entries and maintained he had "never 
planned to carry out" any of those threats. 

The trial of the two youths and two young adult men charged 
with murders of five Turkish women and girls in Solingen 
last May opened April 13 with tears and an admission of 
guilt. 

"I am boundlessly ashamed," the oldest of the four 
defendants, Gartmann, 24, told the court. The four 
defendants range in age from 16 to 24. All are from the 
Solingen area near Duesseldorf. 

The prosecution is portraying hatred of foreigners as the 
motive for the attack which sent shockwaves through Germany 
and beyond. The defence says the prosecution has only 
circumstantial evidence. 

It was the worst attack in a wave of anti-foreigner violence 
that swept Germany starting in 1990 and took the form of 
arson attempts on hostels for asylum-aseekers and physical 
assaults on foreigners. 

Three girls aged four, nine and 12, and an 18-year-old girl 
perished in the blaze which destroyed the house where 19 
Turkish people were sleeping in the early hours of May 29. 

A 27-year-old woman died from injuries received in jumping 
from a top-floor window, and ten more people including a 6-
month-old infant were injured, some seriously. 

The court has earmarked 39 days for the trial, which is 
expected to run through October. dpa eg 

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