Pro-Palestine group accused of raiding Elbit factory face trial in Germany

Berlin, Germany – The trial of five European nationals accused of attacking a factory linked to Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems in Germany is set to begin on Monday.

The case is seen by some as a major escalation in Germany’s crackdown on the Palestine solidarity movement.

According to the prosecution, in the early morning of September 8, 2025, the activists entered the factory in the southern city of Ulm and began destroying office equipment while filming themselves.

Elbit Systems is Israel’s largest private defence contractor and plays a central role in the war in Gaza. It is believed to provide roughly 85 percent of the combat drones and land-based equipment used by the Israeli army. The factory in Ulm is operated by a wholly owned subsidiary of Elbit Systems.

Similar attacks on Elbit facilities have also taken place in other European countries, including the Czech Republic and notably the United Kingdom, where the Palestine Action protest group, whose main target is Elbit Systems, was founded.

In the case of the so-called “Ulm Five”, the Office of the Chief Prosecutor of Stuttgart is pursuing charges of property damage and considers the activists members of a criminal organisation. Arguing for lengthy prison sentences, the prosecution is calling for the court to consider “anti-Semitic motivations and objectives” of the raid on the arms manufacturer, according to the indictment that Al Jazeera has obtained.

The lawyers for the activists contend the alleged incident was “an act of civil disobedience” aimed at stopping actions that violate international law.

“No one was injured,” they said in a recent statement. “None of the defendants has a prior criminal record. None used violence against any person.”

Matthias Schuster, lawyer for Vi Kovarbasic, one of the activists, told Al Jazeera that all the accused were involved in pro-Gaza protests and had “witnessed the unsuccessful attempt to hold the Israeli and German governments accountable for their role in the genocide by both international and German law”.

A psychological toll: Seven months in Isolation

For more than seven months, the activists – who hold Irish, British, Spanish, and German citizenship – have been held in high-security detention across Germany.

In jail, they have spent up to 23 hours a day in isolation, and there are strict limits on visits, their lawyers say. Every phone call and visit are monitored.

The group includes 32-year-old Irish national Daniel Tatlow-Devally; 25-year-old Briton Zo Hailu; Crow Tricks, who is also British and 25; 29-year-old German citizen Kovarbasic; and Leandra Rollo, a 40-year-old Spanish national.

According to legal documents seen by Al Jazeera, Tatlow-Devally has been denied books by authors such as Nelson Mandela by the prison authorities. A court later overturned the restriction.

Tatlow-Devally, who recently completed a master’s degree in Berlin, expressed concerns about his health in a letter read aloud at an event in Berlin at the end of March. His mother told Al Jazeera she is concerned about the conditions and solitary confinement, and said, “It feels like torture”.

“For five months, though Daniel went without any physical contact to another human,” she said.

Tatlow-Devally’s defence lawyer, Benjamin Dusberg, believes the order for pretrial detention was unlawful from the beginning.

“There was never even the slightest risk of flight. Our clients waited at the scene for the police to arrive, even though they could easily have fled,” he said. But the real issue runs deeper, according to Dusberg: “Our clients have touched a raw nerve in Germany’s reason of state. Now the state wants to make an example of them.”

Germany has long drawn global criticism for its continued arms exports to Israel, second only to the United States. Nicaragua has taken Germany to the International Court of Justice over its continued arms exports to Israel during the war on Gaza.

‘Significant’ concerns: Amnesty

The prosecution’s charges to cover property damage – including red paint on the building, as well as destroyed computers and sanitation facilities – were originally estimated at 200,000 euros ($234,000). But they now amount to more than one million euros ($1.17m). Elbit Systems declined to comment on the matter.

The activists are being prosecuted under Section 129 – a “criminal organisation” statute with roots in the political upheaval of the Prussian era. Typically reserved for “terrorists” and organised crime groups, this legal statute has recently been applied to political and climate activists. The prosecution contends that the activists are members of “Palestine Action Germany”, a classification that enables the harsh legal conditions they now face.

Amnesty International sees “significant human rights and rule-of-law concerns”, Paula Zimmermann, an expert on freedom of expression and assembly at the NGO, told Al Jazeera.

By prosecuting political protest under this statute, “legitimate civil society engagement is being equated with organised crime”, she said, noting the actions of the security services have “chilling effects” and prevent people from “exercising their rights to freedom of expression and assembly”.

The activists are also charged with “using symbols of unconstitutional and terrorist organisations”.

In the past, some German courts have ruled that the phrase “From the River to the Sea – Palestine will be free” constitutes a symbol of Hamas. The indictment further interprets the use of the words “child murderer” and “48” in reference to the officially recognised territory of Israel as anti-Semitic.

The Office of the General Prosecutor in Stuttgart told Al Jazeera that it “assumes there is sufficient suspicion that the crime was motivated by anti-Semitic intent”. However, it added that an assessment of the evidence would take place “once the evidence has been presented at trial”.

The Interior Ministry of Baden-Wurttemberg sent Al Jazeera general statements on anti-Semitism and Elbit Systems, but stated that “the graffiti at the crime scene suggests a political motive”.

The ministry further cited Palestine Action’s listing as a proscribed “terrorist” organisation in the UK, without acknowledging the British High Court’s ruling in February 2026 that the designation was disproportionate and unlawful.

A ruling from a higher administrative court on prison conditions, obtained by Al Jazeera, suggests a sentence of more than two years is likely. The trial is set to end in July. The location in Stuttgart-Stammheim is symbolic. In the 1970s, members of the far-left Red Army Faction were convicted there in one of Germany’s biggest trials.

Since October 7, 2023, German authorities have responded harshly to anti-war protests. In addition to bans and the prosecution of slogans and symbols, videos of police violence have repeatedly gone viral. Weeks ago, protests disrupted a Berlin event at which United Nations Special Rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese was speaking. Unlike the UK, Germany has not seen broad protests in support of actions such as attacks on arms factories.