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Baden-Württemberg, Ulm: The defendant is led into the courtroom of the regional court by judicial guards

Photo: Stefan Puchner / dpa

In court, the alleged perpetrator of the arson attack on the synagogue in Ulm remains silent. However, he had commented on it to the psychiatrist. The 47-year-old defendant had stated that he wanted to draw attention to the suffering of the Palestinians in the conflict with Israel, the expert said on the first day of the trial.

Above all, he had the suffering of the children in mind. The man had explained that he wanted to set an example. "If the others don't do anything, I'll do something myself," the defendant is said to have said, according to the expert.

The Turk has to answer for attempted aggravated arson and damage to property harmful to the public before the district court. The defendant had spilled one and a half to two liters of gasoline on the southern wall of the building for several meters in June 2021 for suspected anti-Semitic motives and then set it on fire with a lighter, the prosecutor said. The aim was for the fire to engulf significant parts of the synagogue.

The flames briefly reached a height of up to two meters. For the most part, they went out on their own. Passers-by informed the fire department. A police officer was able to extinguish the fire with a fire extinguisher. There were no people in the building at the time of the crime. Four burn marks appeared on the façade, and soot contaminated the synagogue's "Israel window," the prosecutor said. The damage amounted to several thousand euros.

The indictment was hung far too high, said the lawyer of the 47-year-old. He described his client as a "misguided idealist". He had acted without political pretensions. Only the wall and a window were covered in soot. "That was all. The procedure was unsuitable for destroying a building." The accusation of attempted aggravated arson is absurd.

The perpetrator initially fled to his home country

The act was witnessed by eyewitnesses. An elderly gentleman who was sitting in the car during the alleged arson attack wondered about the wet stains on the wall of the building. At first, he thought that wild peeing had been up to mischief here. It was only later that he saw the flames. Another senior reported that the fire started on its own. The incident occurred shortly after eight o'clock on a Saturday. According to the witnesses, the alleged perpetrator quickly left after setting the fire. According to the psychiatrist, he then drove back to his apartment, thinking he would soon be arrested by the police.

The man had been publicly searched for with pictures after the crime. According to the Stuttgart public prosecutor's office, he had initially fled to his home country.

The man did not want to leave Germany, the expert told the court. His girlfriend had asked him to do so. She had also obtained the plane ticket for Turkey on the Internet.

Arrest at Stuttgart Airport

Because Turkey, like Germany, does not extradite its own citizens, the legal means of the investigators for prosecution were initially exhausted. But when the suspect re-entered Germany via Stuttgart Airport in early July 2023, he was arrested. He has been in pre-trial detention ever since. According to investigators, he lived in Ulm before the crime.

Politicians had condemned the attack and announced better protection of Jewish institutions. Baden-Württemberg's Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann (Greens) had condemned the attack as "vile". The state parliament had passed a resolution against hatred of Jews and exclusion.

Four hearings are scheduled for the trial, and a verdict could come at the end of January.

eru/dpa