Behind bulletproof glass, the trial of five members of a suspected IS terror cell from Neuss began in the high-security wing of the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court on Wednesday. The five defendants, who come from Tajikistan, are alleged to have planned, among other things, explosive attacks and the murder of an critic of Islam from Neuss.
According to the Attorney General, the men, aged between 24 and 33, had contacts up to the highest leadership levels of the so-called “Islamic State”. Strictly guarded and accompanied by 14 police guards, the young men had to take their seats in the dock on Wednesday. They did not refrain from the usual “antics” that often take place in such Islamist trials. For example, one of the defendants first refused to take off his hood, he and two other defendants remained demonstratively seated at the beginning of the meeting – in contempt of court. Afterwards, prosecutor Michael Klemm was able to read out his indictment.
If one believes the results of the investigation he has compiled, the accused from Neuss and the surrounding area not only had contacts with leading IS decision-makers in Afghanistan, but were also in contact with the assassins of Stockholm or Vienna. “The particular dangerousness of the cell is shown by the fact that its contacts acted as backers of the Stockholm attack, which left five dead,” Klemm said, “In addition, the investigations have revealed contacts between the cell and the later assassins of Vienna.” Four people were killed in the Austrian capital in November 2020.
The suspected Neuss IS cell had also apparently planned to kill people in the name of armed jihad. The members of the cell procured alleged components for the construction of a bomb, and a young critic of Islam was to be murdered in Neuss. He was a man who had repeatedly criticised Islam on his Youtube channel “Ex-Muslims klären auf”. The man from Neuss had also reported there that he had converted to Christianity. In his case, the plans for a murder were very advanced, according to prosecutor Klemm. Thus, the accused allegedly spied on their victim and observed him in a Neuss gym. After leaving the gym, the Neuss man was followed to his home address in order to be able to prepare the assassination plot in the best possible way.
According to the indictment, one of the men had stored a pistol including a silencer in his flat at the street Weißenberger Weg in Neuss, another weapon was handed over in a flat in Wuppertal. Before the fatal attack could take place, however, special police forces intervened – the officers had been monitoring the defendants’ telephones and thus learned of the planned assassination in Neuss.
According to the public prosecutor’s office, the members of the terror cell had also prepared themselves for gun battles with the police. They are said to have trained in close combat with weapons in “paintball halls”. They are also accused of collecting donations for the IS. They were supposed to receive 40,000 euros for a contract killing in Albania. However, this did not happen because they could not find the intended victim in Tirana.
“The defendants had the goal of creating a climate of terror in Germany,” explained public prosecutor Michael Klemm at the beginning of the trial. The trial against the five accused is expected to take a long time – the verdict is expected shortly before Christmas at the earliest. In January, one member of the terror cell had already been sentenced. He is now in prison for seven years and is to testify as a “key witness” in the trial.