With the start of the trial against the 5 activists who carried out civil disobedience against material goods from one of Israel’s largest arms companies, Elbit Systems, with the aim of saving human lives, we reaffirm that we stand with them: Without ifs and buts on the side of those who oppose genocide. Criminal is a state that defends a genocidal apartheid state.

We spoke to Benjamin Düsberg, lawyer in the legal team of Daniel, Leandra, Vi, Crow and Zo (the Ulm 5), about the action in Ulm against the Israeli arms company Elbit, the conditions of detention and the status of the proceedings:

The trial against the Ulm 5 is a political trial. Five human rights activists who tried to slow down the Israeli war machine with a concrete action are being treated as terrorists and are being tried on the grounds of the Stuttgart-Stammheim prison, a high-security complex with historical links to the terrorism trials of the 1970s. On the first day of the trial, the activists were handcuffed and separated from their lawyers by a pane of glass, a clear violation of human rights that from the outset points to a biased trial and a massive imbalance of power.

This extremely harsh stance also has the clear purpose of serving as a deterrent to all other activists who had considered following the example of the Ulm 5 to take concrete action against the mass destruction carried out by Israel, as the German state continues to support the right to occupation while leaving years of street protest unheard. 

We strongly condemn the charges of membership of a criminal organization against five brave young people. They have resisted a true criminal organization with the modest means at their disposal and without violence against individuals: The Israeli colonial occupation that has been massacring Palestinians for nearly eighty years.

In the dock should be the leadership of Elbit Systems, not activists against genocide.

Shut Elbit down! Freedom for Crow, Daniel, Leandra, Vi and Zo! Freedom for all political prisoners and freedom for Palestine!

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