Campaign
Against Criminalisation
of the Anti-racist Movement |
After a violent police raid by 1.000 officers on 19/12/99, our colleague Harald
Gloede, member of the anti-racist and refugee organisation FFM
in Berlin, has been arrested under accusation of membership in
the "Revolutionaere Zellen". Several other activists
have been arrested as well and have been in solitary confinement
in prison ever since.
The trial will start on 22 March 2001.
Many of us know Harald as an active supporter of (undocumented)
refugees and as anti-racist campaigner.
We demand the immediate release of Harald and all others and
we will organise the solidarity until this aim is achieved!
We will not accept the criminalisation of the movement against
"Fortress Europe"!
CONTENTS
1. The "Mehringhof"
centre
2. The Revolutionary
Cells (RZ): A Chronology Of Repression
3. A Short
Biography of Tarek Mousli
1. The
"Mehringhof" centre
The "Mehringhof" centre in West Berlin, once a squatted
complex but now a collectively owned project, has been home to
scores of political projects and initiatives ranging from alternative
and ecological collectives, Turkish and Kurdish leftist organizations,
and autonomist and antifa groups for well over a decade. Despite
a marked decline in the strength of the extra-parliamentary left
in Berlin over the past few years, police repression against
the (autonomist) left has never lessened.
First the wave of repression against the autonomist periodical
"Interim", then the elimination of the remnants of
the squatters movement, now the recent anti-terrorist police
raids on the Mehringhof can be seen as part of the "green-left"
German government's determination to cleanse the new capital
city of all forms of fundamental opposition. Following the murder
in Vienna this September of alleged Red Army Fraction (RAF) member
Horst Ludwig Meyer and the arrest of Andrea Klump, the German
government's current wave of repression aimed at the now-defunct
Revolutionary Cells (RZ) is further evidence that the "social
democratic" states of the European Union are just as determined
as ever to elimate the revolutionary movement, despite the fact
that most of the militant armed left in Europe has disbanded
itself and given up the armed struggle. Updates on the Mehringhof
raids and the repression against alleged RZ members can be found
(in German) at www.freilassung.de
(Taken from: Arm the Spirit)
2. The Revolutionary Cells (RZ): A Chronology Of Repression
August 1978
Following involuntary statements by blinded RZ member Feiling,
a German federal court issued arrest warrants for Sabine Eckle,
Rudolf Schindler, Sonja Suder, and Christian Gauger, who are
alleged by police to be the Frankfurt cell of the RZ. The four
go underground. Tarek [see below] later tells police that Schindler
and Eckle lived in Berlin-Kreuzberg from around 1985 to around
1990.
October 26, 1986
The chief of the Foreigners' Division of the bureaucracy [the
'Auslaenderbehoerde'] in Berlin, Harald Hollenberg, is shot in
the legs outside his home in Zehlendorf. The police suspect a
man and a women carried out the attack, with other men acting
as lookouts. The escape vehicle, a Volkswagen Passat, is later
discovered in flames. Hollenberg not only pursued a hardline
as head of the 'Auslaenderbehoerde', he also was guilty of accepting
bribes and was eventually forced to resign from his post.
February 1, 1987
Bomb attack by the RZ on the 'Zentrale Sozialhilfstelle fuer
Asylbewerber' in Berlin. The attack caused only minor damage,
but a later firebombing by the Revolutionary Viruses/Youth Organization
of the RZ burned the building to the ground.
September 1, 1987
The RZ attack Gunter Korbmacher, Chief Justice of the Federal
Administrative Court. The 61-year-old was shot twice in the thigh
as he left his house. The police suspect two people carried out
the attack and then fled on a motorcycle. The motorcycle, with
a fake number tag, was later found nearby. Korbmacher's rulings
as judge included one which stated that the oppression of Tamils
was not systematic and that therefore each asylum case had to
be judged individually. He also spoke out in favor of tightening
Germany's asylum laws; he was well ahead of the times in doing
so.
December 18, 1987
Nationwide police raids against the RZ and Rote Zora result in
33 arrests, including the arrest of Ulla Penselin and Ingrid
Strobl. Four people, including Ulli Dillmann, Thomas Kram, and
Corinna Kawaters, avoid the raids and go underground.
April 1988
The police confiscate a car in Dahlem which had been stolen in
August 1987. It contains 3kg of explosives, a gas cannister,
an alarm clock, two motorcycle helmets, two jogging pants, two
wind jackets, and several bags. The car is said to have been
an RZ escape vehicle. The explosive did not ignite.
October 1988
The Federal Prosecutor's Office drops its investigation of Schindler
and Eckle.
June 1989
Ingrid Strobl is sentenced to 5 years in prison for "supporting
a terrorist association". Later the sentence is reduced
to 3 years.
January 1991
Rudolf Schindler and Sabine Eckle reappear on the wanted posters.
January 1991
Failed attack on the Social Ministry in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia
and the State Chancellor's Office in Dusseldorf. Soon thereafter,
the cell responsible for these actions announces its dissolution,
and the end of the RZ begins.
February 1991
Bomb attack on the 'Siegessaeule' war monument in Berlin in protest
against the Gulf War.
June 1991
Firebombs ignited inside the 'Reichstag' in Berlin as an RZ protest
against the planned move of Germany's capital back to Berlin.
July 1991
The Revolutionary Cells firebomb two Kaiser's supermarkets, since
the chain has plans to construct a new supermarket on the site
of the former Ravensbruck concentration camp.
November 1992
Several homes and workplaces are searched by police in Berlin.
Police suspect one Berlin resident is a member of the RZ and
participated in the Korbmacher attack. The investigations are
later closed.
late March 1995
The Federal Attorney's Office (BAW) claim that two youths stole
two dozens packets of the explosive Gelamon 40 as well as 4.15m
of fuse wire from a cellar in Prenzlauer Berg.
early April 1995
Police confiscate the above mentioned explosives from the youths,
who claim to have found the materials in a park. The significance
of the discovery does not dawn on the police at first. It isn't
until the spring of 1999 that the cops claim the explosives are
part of a cache of explosives stolen by "unidentified RZ
members" from a construction site in North Rhine-Westphalia
on June 4, 1987. These explosives are said to have been use in
at least three RZ attacks or attempted attacks. Another round
of interrogations with the youths takes the police to the cellar.
October 25, 1995
Corinna Kawaters turns herself in to federal authorities, after
having made contact with Mr. Benz of the intelligence agency
(VS).
mid-1990s
Ulli Dillmann resurfaces after the investigations against him
are closed.
March 1998
The trial against Corinna Kawaters begins. She is accused of
having been a member of the RZ/Rote Zora for at least 11 months
in 1987. During a search of her home, an alarm clock was confiscated.
June 1998
A court in Stuttgart rules on Corinna Kawaters' case.
1998
Hans Jochaim Klein is arrested in France.
May 19, 1999
Tarek Mousli, said to have rented the cellar mentioned above,
is arrested and charged with supporting a terrorist association.
He is detained in prison. A former partner of his during the
1990s is also implicated in renting the cellar. Tarek expresses
no interest in political support. He treats the matter as a personal
matter. Neither he nor his lawyer have offered any information
about what the police were interested in. A short notice in a
Berlin daily newspaper about his arrest is the only source of
information for the political movement.
July 7, 1999
Tarek Mousli is released on bail. He makes a brief statement
about the charges.
November 13, 1999
Rudolf Schindler is arrested in Frankfurt on charges of "accomplice
to murder" as a result of statements made by Hans Jochaim
Klein.
November 17, 1999
Federal authorities file charges against Rudolf Schindler after
Klein says he was involved in the OPEC action and provided logistical
support.
November 23, 1999
Tarek Mousli is arrested again, this time for being the "leader
of the RZ in Berlin" and is taken to Ossendorf Prison in
Cologne. He is concretely charged with the October 28, 1986 shooting
of Harald Hollenberg. He is also said to have fired the two shots
at Gunter Korbmacher on September 27, 1987. It's surprising that
the BAW did not simply charge him with participating in the attack
but rather with actually firing the shots.
He is also said to have participated in the February 6, 1987
RZ bomb attack in Berlin. and to have had "immediate access
to the weapons depot of the RZ in Berlin". He is also said
to have "participated in the strategy discussions within
the RZ in the early 1990s". The BAW have not said where
their evidence for these charges comes from. Tarek's lawyer makes
no statement on the matter. Rumor has it that statements were
made by a former partner of Tarek (1995), who, after a long stay
abroad, told everything she knew to police. Tarek is said to
have spoken openly of his past with her. At exactly the same
time on this day, eight sites are raided by police, five in Berlin,
two in Brandenburg, and one in Saxony-Anhalt. Four of the sites
were regularly used by Tarek, four were the homes of contact
persons. These include the homes of Axel H. and Martin B., who
had "intensive personal and written contact with the accused"
according to authorities. Also, the home of a woman and the woman's
partner are also searched by police. Tarek's home is also searched,
as are his two martial arts studios in Prenzlauer Berg and Marzahn
in Berlin.
December 6, 1999
An article appears in a Berlin newspaper which claims the police
are investigating Stasi lawyer Jurgen Wetzenstein-Ollenschlager.
He is said to have been involved in concealing millions of German
marks belonging to the Stasi and went underground in 1992. He
is said to be living somewhere in East Berlin. From the article
it becomes clear that the woman whose home was searched because
of Tarek's statements was Ollenschlager's ex-mother-in-law. According
to the article, the police searched the home of a "Ms. K"
to find a kind of "life insurance" policy belonging
to Tarek Mousli, which lists him as a participant in RZ actions.
Whether such a text was actually found is not clear.
December 14, 1999
Tarek's lawyer resigns. By this point it should have been obvious
that Tarek was handling everything, since his lawyer, a friend
of his for many years, could no longer go along with what was
happening. But this information was not made known to people
in the movement effectively enough. From this day on, at the
latest, Tarek began making statements to police. The arrest warrants
for Axel, Harald, Sabine, and Rudolf were signed on this date,
as was the search order for the raid on the Mehringhof complex.
It can be assumed that Tarek has entered the state witness protection
program ('Kronzeugengesetz'), and that in future he will be given
a new identity with the help of state authorities.
December 19, 1999
The Mehringhof and the private homes of Axel, Sabine, and Harald
are raided by police. Rudolf, already in prison because of Klein's
statements to the cops, is handed a second arrest order. Despite
the efforts of more than 1,000 cops, no RZ weapons depot is uncovered
inside the Mehringhof. The raids and arrests were the direct
result of statements given by Tarek Mousli. Rumor has it that
Tarek gave police the names of 50 people associated with the
RZ.
December 27, 1999
An article in 'Focus' magazine mentions a list with the names
of 50 suspected RZ members. It's unclear whether this list really
exists, or if it has any judicial relevance, since the statute
of limitations on most actions has expired. The fact that the
BAW are having problems with the statute of limitations is made
clear by the fact that the 1980 accidental fatal shooting of
Hessian Economics Minister Karry is no longer referred to as
"assault resulting in death" but instead is called
a "murder". There is no statute of limitations on murder
charges.
January 4, 2000
Tarek is said to have made further statements to police and is
willing to speak with investigators to clear up inconsistencies
in his earlier statements.
(Translated by Arm The Spirit from 'Interim' #492 - January 27,
2000)
3. A Short Biography Of Tarek Mousli
The following is a subjective
assessment by some people who have known Tarek pretty well for
quite some time. The points mentioned do not give a complete
picture of Tarek, but it should make the recent events more clear
to people who don't know him.
Tarek Mousli was born on March
19, 1959 in Beirut, Lebanon. His mother is German, and his father
is a citizen of Saudi Arabia. After a few years in Beirut, Tarek
grew up in Germany. His youth was spent studying near the North
Sea. He went to Kiel in the 1970s to attend university, and there
he joined the squatters' movement and the anti-nuclear scene.
After a time in Hamburg, Tarek
came to Berlin in the 1980s and was engaged in the autonomist
scene in many ways. His main interest was martial arts. He seemed
especially interested in attaining formal recognition, such as
"black belts". Sometimes he lived alone, sometimes
he lived in collectives in formerly squatted houses.
Because he always had problems
with his visa status when he travelled abroad, Tarek applied
for German citizenship in the 1980s. He didn't have problems
on the German side, rather it was the Saudi Arabians who made
it difficult for him to give up his citizenship there. They finally
relented after two years.
Tarek had some long-term relationships,
and several affairs. He was known even in those days as someone
who liked to tell stories to women about his adventures. It would
be tempting to dismiss this fact as typical crap, but it was
this tendency of his that tripped him up in 1995 and 1999.
In the mid 1980s, he worked
in an alternative photo collective, and eventually set up his
own independent business. But this went bankrupt in the late
1980s, since he could not keep up with the swift technological
changes in that market.
In the early 1990s, Tarek gradually
disassociated himself culturally with the "Kreuzberg scene".
This was partly illustrated by his lavish wedding to his then-girlfriend.
But they got divorced a year and a half later. Also at this time,
he organized 24-hour-care for a paraplegic friend of his who
was paralyzed in an accident, sparing him from professional care
and admission to a care home. But the two later had a falling
out over money.
In the 1990s, Tarek showed
more interest in East Berlin and eventually moved there. He opened
a martial arts studio in Prenzlauer Berg, and later another studio
in Marzahn, where even cops took part in training sessions.
(Translated by Arm The Spirit)
Up
UNITED for Intercultural Action
European network against nationalism, racism, fascism
and in support of migrants and refugees
Postbus
413, NL-1000 AK Amsterdam, Netherlands
phone +31-20-6834778, fax +31-20-6834582
info@unitedagainstracism.org,
www.unitedagainstracism.org
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