It sounds like a joke, but according to research by FOCUS Online it is true: 24-year-old Iraqi Farhad A., who was involved in the fatal knife attack in Chemnitz in August 2018 and has been wanted worldwide ever since, will soon be the subject of a court case in Germany – as the alleged victim!
As FOCUS Online has learned from judicial circles, a trial will start on March the 3rd at Leipzig District Court concerning alleged bodily harm against Farhad A. (Ref.: 216 Cs Js 48913/18). The accused is the employee of a dance club in Leipzig who singles out guests in the entrance area.
The crime allegedly took place on June the 17th 2018, about two months before the fatal knife attack in Chemnitz, in which the 35-year-old German Daniel H. had died on August the 25th. Farhad A. is said to have been one of the two stabbers. Shortly after the attack, he had fled Germany. Until today, the international search for him remained unsuccessful. The second perpetrator, a Syrian, has already been sentenced to nine and a half years in prison.
According to FOCUS Online, the current trial at Leipzig District Court is about an incident in front of the Leipzig nightclub “L1”. The location in the city centre is considered a party hotspot with a large dance floor and elegant lounge bar. The 1.5-litre bottle of champagne costs 3300 euros here, the half-litre of gin 140 euros. So the similarity in name to Munich’s posh club “P1” is no coincidence.
On June the 17th, 2018, the rejected asylum seeker and notorious criminal Farhad A. wanted to visit the club. According to the public prosecutor’s office, a physical altercation with an employee of the “L1” took place in front of the club. The person in question is 38-year-old Michael T., who is now considered the accused. His defence lawyer Frank Hannig from Dresden did not want to comment on the case when asked.
According to FOCUS Online research, Michael T. works as a so-called ” chooser” in front of the entrance to the club. His job is to check the dress code of the guests – “stylish, chic, modern” clothes are desired. He decides who gets in and who doesn’t.
There were obviously problems with Farhad A., which quickly escalated. According to the public prosecutor’s office, club employee Michael T. allegedly hit the Iraqi several times in the face with his hand or fist at around 1.10 a.m.. At least once, the investigators claim, the accused kicked Farhad A., who was lying on the ground. The allegedly injured man was bleeding slightly from the lip and had pain in his right temple, according to the public prosecutor’s office.
In January 2019, the Leipzig District Court issued a penalty order for bodily harm against Michael T. The fine was 2500 euros (50 daily sentences of 50 euros). In addition, there are the costs of the court proceedings. Because the defendant appealed, the main hearing will take place at the beginning of March.
The trial is supposed to clarify what really happened in front of the “L1” on the evening of the crime. In an interview with FOCUS Online, Michael T. vehemently denies the prosecution’s accusations. The 38-year-old says he was insulted, threatened and spat at by Farhad A..
“The man was wearing shorts, had a backpack and a beer bottle in his hand,” Michael T. says. He made this clear to the visibly drunk man using a mixture of German, English and sign language. The man then became aggressive and insulted him – calling him a “shitty German” and a “son of a bitch”. Finally, the guy with the beer bottle in his hand gestured wildly and challenged him to a fight.
“He came very close to me and spat in my face from about 20 centimetres away,” the “L1” employee reports. “I then stretched out my arm and pushed him away. Then he spat at me again, a total of three times”. Again and again the alcoholic provoked him: “Are you a man or what?
Michael T. describes the critical moment: “I grabbed him and pushed him to the ground”. During the scuffle, his opponent “tore his jacket and ripped off the buttons”. In a headlock, he dragged the unruly visitor out of the entrance area of the club.
In an interview with FOCUS Online, the accused Michael T. assures that at no time did he punch the guest in the face or kick him when he was already lying on the floor, as the public prosecutor’s office accuses him of doing. It never even occurred to him at the time that there might be legal repercussions, the accused says.As a ” watchman” it was not his job to get the troublemaker out of the entrance area of the club, but the job of the security guards, says Michael T. But despite repeated requests, they did not support him, which was apparently due to the tense relationship between him and the bouncers. “One of them later claimed to the police that I had hit him,” says Michael T. “But that’s not true.Several witnesses have been summoned for the trial at Leipzig District Court to describe the events of June the 17th 2018 from their point of view. It will be interesting to see what they still know – or think they know – after more than two and a half years. The alleged victim Farhad A. is on the run and logically will not testify in court.A video recording of the fight between Farhad A. and Michael T. could be helpful for the investigation. According to FOCUS Online, a surveillance camera in the entrance area of the club had recorded the scenes. But the recordings, which were not seized by the police at the time, no longer do exist now.The current state of affairs is such that it cannot be ruled out that the German judiciary will rule Michael T. guilty – and thus give the hiding felon Farhad A. a late triumph. The idea that the Iraqi, in some hiding place, will learn of his legal victory and enjoy his victory is more than strange.Farhad A. had arrived in Germany at the beginning of January 2016 via Turkey, Greece, Macedonia and Serbia and had unsuccessfully applied for asylum. During his two and a half years in Germany, the Iraqi, who had 14 alias identities, committed several offences: dangerous bodily harm, drug trafficking, theft, trespassing, damage to property, insults, threats, resistance against law enforcement officers. Most recently, he stabbed Daniel H., a carpenter, to death in Chemnitz, according to investigators.Acquaintances describe Farhad A. as highly aggressive, erratic, ruthless, emotionless. A police report on the young man available to FOCUS Online says: “He is generally feared because of his appearance”.