Lina E. is charismatic female leader of the violent extreme Left in eastern Germany. Several months ago she and some of her comrades went on trial in Dresden for various violent acts against right-wingers. Then, after being convicted and sentenced, Lina E. was released from jail pending a final revision of her sentence. Whether she will show up for her next appearance in court is anybody’s guess.

Many thanks to Hellequin GB for translating these two articles from Junge Freiheit.

The first article gives details on the specific crimes committed by Lina E. and her comrades, and the unfolding of the courtroom testimony:

Left-wing extremists around Lina E. sentenced to prison terms

The verdicts in the largest prosecution against violent left-wing extremists in years have been handed down: Lina E. and her accomplices are sentenced to prison terms. The court falls short of the demands of the prosecution. The brutality of the attacks shocked everyone.

In the end everything happened very quickly: the Dresden Higher Regional Court sentenced the left-wing extremist Lina E. and three other accomplices to prison terms for forming a criminal organization and numerous attacks on alleged right-wing extremists. Lina E. has to go to prison for five years and three months. Her three co-defendants were sentenced to prison terms of between two years and five months, and three years and three months. The court thus fell well short of the demands of the federal prosecutor, who had demanded eight years in prison.

The verdict came on the 99th day of the trial. A lengthy process that ended with only one witness. A review and an outlook:

The beginning of the process

The proceedings against the student Lina E. and three other suspects are to begin on September 8, 2021. The charge is forming a criminal organization based on Section 129 of the Criminal Code. The federal prosecutor sees it as proven that Lina E. and three other defendants are members of a criminal organization. Between 2018 and 2020, she and other members of the gang are said to have planned and carried out attacks on right-wing extremists. The ringleaders are Lina E. and her fiancé Johann G., who, however, has gone into hiding.

The public prosecutor assumes that the gang wanted to put pressure on right-wing extremists as a motive. Right-wing extremists, or people whom they took to be, would at least be injured by their attacks. Hans Schlueter-Staats, the presiding judge, spoke of “serious bodily harm offences”. Purpose of the attacks: Fear and insecurity would be created through a constant scenario of brutality. This fear would lead right-wing extremists to give up their actions.

The victims

October 2, 2018: Attack on the then-unaligned city councilor Enrico B. in Leipzig. The former NPD member is seriously injured — fractured kneecap, kicks in the head.

October 30, 2018: The right-wing extremist Cederic S. is attacked by hooded people in Wurzen. They hit him with blackjacks. There are several fractures of the spine, at times there is a risk of death.

January 8, 2019: Sewer worker Tobias N. works together with colleagues on Bornaische Straße in Leipzig Connewitz. Suddenly several hooded people hit him, injuring him life-threateningly. A woman is said to be among the attackers. The thugs yell: “This is a Nazi, he deserves it.” Motive of the attack: Tobias N. wears a hat from the right-wing fashion label “Greifvogel Wear” in winter.

October 19, 2019: The robbery of the right-wing scene bar “Bull’s Eye” in Eisenach follows. It belongs to Leon R. The landlord and five guests are attacked with baseball bats.

The night of December 13th to 14th, 2019: Leon R. is driven home by friends. When he gets out, hooded men attack him. He fights back. The attackers hit the car with hammers and stab the occupants with sticks. A woman’s voice is said to have ordered the retreat. The alerted police are able to track and stop two vehicles. Lina E. and Lennart A. are sitting in a VW Golf; the car belongs to Lina E.’s mother; the license plates are stolen. Another car is stopped in Wommern. Two of the five occupants escape. A third vehicle, in which the later key witness Johannes D. is sitting, is caught speeding both on the outward and return journey on the A 4 near Jena.

February 15, 2020: About 20 hooded left-wing extremists attacked six right-wing extremists at the Wurzen train station. The six come from Dresden from a memorial march for the air raids in 1945; they have a war flag with them. Four of them are critically injured. Upon reviewing the video footage, investigators found that a woman and a man observed the group on the train and then spoke on the phone. It is said to be Lina E. and her fiancé Johann G. The couple themselves do not take part in the attack, but stay on the train and continue to Leipzig.

At least 13 people are said to have become victims of the hammer gang. Leon R. gave an interview to JF in his bar in Eisenach after he was attacked. At that time he described the attack by the Hammer Gang. Leon R. is currently in custody, just like Enrico B. from Leipzig. The accusation of the federal prosecutor against the two right-wing extremists: Formation of a criminal organization.

The accused

Lina E. (27), from Kassel, high school, mother teacher, father is senior teacher. Lina E. studies social education in Halle. Her bachelor thesis is entitled “On dealing with neo-Nazism in youth work”. The NSU in the youth club Winzerla” is graded “Very Good”. Lina E. moves to Leipzig-Connewitz in 2018. By August of that year at the latest, she is said to have joined left-wing extremists. In 2019 from Leipzig she will begin her master’s degree in Halle. The first provisional detention is on July 10, 2020 for five days; on November 5, 2020 she is arrested again in Connewitz, and Lina E. has been in custody since November 6, 2020. She is in Chemnitz women’s prison and begins training as a carpenter, claiming that she suffers from rheumatism. She has not previously been convicted.

Lennart A. (28), from Braunschweig, born in 1994, called “Mio”. After graduating from high school, he begins studying physics at the University of Leipzig, then switches to mathematics. He is said to have joined the group centering on Lina E. at the end of 2019.

Jannis R. (37) from Freiberg was born in 1985. Abitur [high school diploma], community service, dropped out of physics studies at the TU Dresden, then communication science at the University of Leipzig, dropped out there, too. After training as a social assistant, he cannot complete his training as a state-approved educator because marijuana is seized from him — drug use is an exclusion criterion. He has been working in a nursing service since 2019. He reportedly joined the group in 2019.

Philipp M., (29), Berliner, called Nero. The male nurse comes from the autonomous [anarchist] community on Rigaer Strasse. He has a criminal record for blinding a police helicopter pilot with a laser pointer in 2017. For this he was sentenced to eighteen months in prison.

A tough process

At the beginning of the trial, the accused remained silent. You don’t have to say anything, that’s your right. In this respect, the taking of evidence is extremely tough for a long time. Video recordings only show masked people and the recorded conversations from bugged cars also do not allow for clear perpetrators. Witnesses, mostly victims, cannot identify the accused as perpetrators. Leon R. is only able to recognize the voice of Lina E. Enrico B., who was brutally injured by several thugs in front of his house, cannot identify the accused as the perpetrators in court. A mixed DNA trace on a plastic bag that the police discovered at the crime scene was from Lina E. — her defense attorney doubts that the trace definitely came from his client.

The crime tools discovered during house searches in Lina E.’s apartment, such as the hammer, cell phones packed in plastic bags, clothing and €4,000 in cash, are not enough to convict the accused. Many investigators and experts will testify. But then something unpredictable happens.

The key witness

It is a misconception that Antifa is feminist. There are rapists or simply misogynists everywhere — even in their ranks. Public calls to hunt down people who have become conspicuous are often found on left-wing extremist platforms. In the case of a certain Johannes D., however, the call for a manhunt with a photo and full name comes at the wrong time as it pertains to the accused before the Dresden Higher Regional Court. Because Johannes D. comes from the circle of the accused. He was at least informed in advance of some attacks or scouted out the surroundings of a later victim. He is one of the people who is photographed twice by a speed-camera on the A4 near Jena after the second attack on Leon R.

The left-wing extremist knows exactly what lies ahead after learning that leftists are looking for him for rape. Fearing the sympathizers of his outraged ex-girlfriends, he tries to go into hiding in Warsaw. Before his left-wing comrades discover him, however, the German security authorities do.

The 30-year-old decides to cooperate with authorities and opens up in court. In several hearings of witnesses in court, he presents Lina E., but also her fiancé Johann G., as the heads of the group. They planned and organized the attacks. There had been martial arts training. In addition, he names two other people involved in the attack on Leon R. in 2019, of whom the investigators knew nothing until now.

Outlook

Will this process bring peace? Has the head of left-wing extremism been cut off? Rather not. As with the Red Army faction, the second generation is formed. The left-wing extremists go underground, become more radical and carry out more attacks. This year alone, left-wing extremists seriously injured two neo-Nazis with axes in Erfurt. In February, at least eight German leftists in Budapest are said to have attacked and seriously injured right-wing extremists, but also passers-by, with clubs and pepper spray. The police were able to catch some of the perpetrators. Others, like Lina E.’s fiancé, are said to be on the run.

Neither autonomists willing to use violence nor the Antifa have support in society. Even internally, the procedure is controversial and discussed. The plans for the so-called Day X, the Saturday after the verdict, are controversial. Some leftists want to move to other cities should the police enforce a ban on the demonstration. Others advise traveling to Leipzig despite the ban on demonstrations and mixing with the people during the three other major events in Leipzig — the Grönemeyer concert, the high-risk football game between 1. FC Lok Leipzig and Chemnitzer FC, and the city festival — to launch attacks from behind the scenes.

The only thing that is certain is that a small part of the Left will have its money cut off. Under the headline “Hostilities are increasing! Bank terminates donation account”, on May 28th a so-called indy collective published that the Bank für Sozialwirtschaft (bank for social economy) was closing the donation account for indymedia at the left self-help network on May 31st, on the day of the verdict.

Afterword from the translator:

When you read the CVs of these perpetrators then there comes immediately to mind a certain Austrian, a failed painter. The one that the Left disowned, because he lost, and chucked, as unwanted garbage, over to the their neighbours on the Right. That way they have someone else to blame for their own mess. Not that I can see any difference between left- and right-wing extremists; some of their doctrine is just slightly different. Just like it was between Catholics and Protestants after Luther, Zwingly, Calvin and others, up until the 19th century in some places.

The second article concerns the presiding judge’s decision to release Lina E. back into her radical left milieu:

Judge certifies her “hero status”

Left-wing extremist Lina E. released after verdict

Is Lina E. diving underground now? This fear of federal prosecutors could come true after the judge’s controversial decision.

Dresden

Lina E., sentenced to five years and three months in prison, was released from prison after the verdict. He suspended the arrest warrant against the left-wing extremist subject to conditions, said the presiding judge of the State Protection Chamber at the Dresden Higher Regional Court, Hans Schlueter-Staats.

He only let the cat out of the bag at the end of his eight-hour reasoning. In addition, the judge certified the 28-year-old as having “hero status” that she had achieved during the trial. But he said to the convicted woman: “That’s also your biggest burden.” The 70 supporters of the bully in the courtroom celebrated the release with frenetic jeers.

Lina E. had been found guilty of numerous attacks on political opponents in a sensational trial. The left-wing extremist had been in custody for two and a half years, because the federal prosecutor and the magistrates feared she might go underground. The presiding judge has now taken this risk.

Federal prosecutors had asked for eight years

As a rule, pre-trial detention may not exceed a period of six months. Lina E. would only serve the remaining sentence of almost three years when the verdict becomes final. That means: Until the decision on the revision, she now remains at large. Experience has shown that such procedures take several months to a year.

In any case, the Higher Regional Court’s judgment fell far short of the demands of the federal prosecutor’s office. They had asked for an eight-year prison sentence.

Lina E. has to report to the police

Lina E. can only change her place of residence, which is noted in the file, with the consent of the court, and is supposed to hand in her identity card and her passport. In addition, she now has to report to the police twice a week.

After the judgment was handed down, the left-wing extremist got into the black car of one of her lawyers and drove away. She was probably taken to her apartment in Leipzig. In the evening and at night there were serious riots by the left-wing scene in connection with the conviction.

Afterword from the translator:

Why did they even bother with this farce? After all, only “right-wing extremism”, a.k.a. questioning the Narrative and the government, is the gravest existential threat to their demockeracy. And people like that Lina E. will most likely receive, in a couple of years, the “Order of Merit” for their diligent fight against these “evil Nazis”.