The trial of the Ulm 5 in Stannheim, Germany, wasn’t like anything I’ve seen before. In Ireland I would’ve attended the Jobstown trial – for anything near comparable in terms of when a state tries to punish protesters – but this was on a different level. No jury, chained defendants brought from prison where they’re in isolation and glass walls separating them from their lawyers.
Everyone attending is very strictly searched going in. I got a ‘patting down’ by a security guard, had to remove shoes etc. But both Greta Thunberg and Nicky, the English mother of Zo, one of the five defendants, told me that at earlier trial dates they had had hands put down their underwear and were effectively abused during this search.
Though the Irish parliamentarians attending told security guards we wanted to take notes, we had our pens and notebooks removed and put in bags along with phones or anything else we had. Pens are lethal weapons apparently. Even lipstick wasn’t allowed. Our passports had to be shown but were given back to us.
The courtroom is extremely modern and hi-tech with desks that have microphones and space for solicitors and their clients to sit together. But these aren’t utilised in this trial. Instead, defendants are brought into court shackled and behind a glass wall, separated from and unable to communicate with their counsel. The general public is also behind another glass panel and separated from the proceedings.
The other glaring difference is one main judge and four other judges decide the outcome. There are no jury trials in Germany and some other european countries.
Chaos is the only way to describe the trial. Having queued to get in, it started an hour late and the judge adjourned for a break after about nine minutes! This is a common feature of the trial according to relatives. Another half hour break was taken soon after. You could be forgiven for thinking the judges don’t want an efficient, organised trial. There is no transcript being kept, which is just incredible.
The morning’s proceedings hinged around an argument being made by Zo to sit with their lawyers in the aforementioned desks with microphone and so both can hear accurate translation. Initially we heard this testimony in German via the court translator, but then legal argument was made by Zo to have their points heard in their own voice and language and then translated. It quickly became apparent that the translator was leaving out some details and not being fully accurate.
How can a fair trial be guaranteed of people from a number of nationalities without them speaking their own words, accurate translation and a record to check back after?
Later, the defence team began to make arguments about wanting to demonstrate how Elbit systems and the Ulm factory is integral to the genocide on Palestine, with drones and weaponry directly sent there that end up killing and maiming Palestinian children and adults. The legal team is making a case for the CEO of Elbit to be called as a witness. He began to read a section of the ICJ genocide ruling (which is in English) and was stopped by the judge who said German only is alllowed, but then wouldn’t allow the translator to translate it into German!
Elbit Systems Germany is a 100% owned subsidiary of Elbit Israel, responsible for over 80% of the weapons used in the Gaza land war.
The “Ulm 5” engaged in an act of civil disobedience against the ongoing genocide in Gaza. There was no threat to anyone at any stage in their protest. They did not conceal their faces and did not run away. Daniel and four other Palestine activists took part in a direct action at Elbit Systems in Ulm in September last year.
The presence of Irish parliamentarians was a great boost to Daniel and other defendants. It brought international eyes onto the trial. A representative from Da Linke was there too. It is howe other international parliamentarians might follow our example. We must continue to make the case that the actions of these defendants are not criminal but are a legitimate response to the horrific genocide on Palestine. It is the arms manufacturers, complicit companies and governments who should be on trial.
“***
Words from Daniel Taylor-Devaly after the trial :
“It’s already a long time since we saw the videos explaining our actions and the police “super-cut” of the action itself. Despite the dubious editing choices in the police video, it showed a clear picture of five people who have long recognised the injustice of the occupation of Palestine. The German authorities are not only allowing companies here to profit from mass murder, but also to encourage them to base themselves here – and to ignore the contradictions or characterise them as nonsensical.
We came to the conclusion that it was our moral duty to stop deliveries from the Elbit factory. The connection between knowledge and action is simple.
If the prosecutor believes that we were wrong about genocide or about Germany’s part in it, then he would have to address the fact that there is much clear evidence for it – in findings and reports of the UN Special Rapporteur for the Occupied Territories, a UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International.
I have made my position clear on the antisemitism allegations, they are baseless.
In a fair system the presentation of these videos would suffice to drop these charges. Their intention is only to divert from Germany’s complicity in yet another genocide.
Thank you.”
**
Nina Oner, a lawyer representing one of the Ulm 5 spoke about a trial taking place in another courtroom that’s being treated completely differently:
“In the parallel proceedings taking place in Courtroom 1 – proceedings that are in fact pending at the Higher Regional Court of Stuttgart – the defendants are accused of membership of a terrorist organisation and of preparing an act of high treason. They are alleged to have intended to violently overthrow the existing state order in Germany and replace it with their own form of government, the broad outlines of which had already been drawn up.
Two of the defendants are accused of breaching the Weapons Act and the War Weapons Control Act. One of these two defendants is also alleged to have committed the offences of attempted murder, causing grievous bodily harm, resisting law enforcement officers and assaulting them, after firing 23 shots at police officers with a semi-automatic rapid-fire rifle during his arrest, injuring two in the process.
And these defendants are allowed to speak directly to their defence lawyers from their cells, without a partition, without a microphone causing static, distortion or a time delay, and without a partition.”
These defendants are being treated like this despite being neo-nazi.The far right group is called the Reichsbürger and some of the last dregs of the German nobility are attached to it.
They are supporters of the Reich and don’t believe in the German State. They were heavily armed and dangerous, have injured and killed police officers. Of those on trial, one shot at and injured two police officers while resisting arrest.
Yet the Ulm 5 injured nobody and damaged an arms factory to prevent violence. But because they oppose the Israeli state they get a show trial.
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Germany vs. the Ulm 5: Five activists face harsh pre-trial detention for opposing Germany’s complicity in Israel’s genocide (12 December 2025)
