Six far-right extremists silent before Zürich district court – verdict pending
All six defendants from Junge Tat refused to testify on Friday before the Zürich district court. Around 200 demonstrators from the left-wing scene protested outside the building.
Six defendants from Junge Tat refuse to testify – large police presence at court
Around 200 people from the left-wing and Antifa scene gathered outside the Zürich district court on Friday morning to demonstrate against the six defendants from the far-right group Junge Tat. As reported by 20 Minuten, a large police contingent sealed off the court building whilst shouts such as "Nazis out" echoed through the streets.
When the defendants arrived with their lawyers, they were greeted with jeers and insults. Behind a dense police cordon, they used the moment as a political demonstration: on the court steps they presented banners with inscriptions such as "Family instead of gender ideology" and "Free speech yes".
In the courtroom itself, all six defendants refused to give any testimony – neither regarding their person nor the matter at hand. The five Swiss nationals and one German must answer for, amongst other things, discrimination and incitement to hatred, coercion, breach of the peace, property damage and trespass.
Actions in church, dance house and central station
At the centre of the charges is an action from June 2022 in the Catholic church St. Peter and Paul in city district 4. According to the indictment, the defendants entered through a side door during a well-attended Pride service and placed a 2.4-metre-high wooden cross bearing the inscription "NOPRIDEMONTH".
In October of the same year, three of the defendants disrupted the children's reading "Drag Story Time" at the Tanzhaus Zürich in Wipkingen, where around 50 people were present. The two ringleaders are additionally accused of having participated in violent clashes between rival demonstration groups at Zürich central station in February 2022.
Public prosecutor demands custodial sentences for ringleaders
At the centre of the proceedings stand the two main defendants Tobias L. (23) and Manuel C. (25). The public prosecutor is seeking 15 months' partly suspended custodial sentence for both, of which six months would be served. Conditional fines and penalties are sought for the remaining four members.
"Opinion is free, but nobody gets the idea of enforcing it with their fist," the public prosecutor stated. He explicitly emphasised that the defendants stood before the court not because of their political views but because of their actions.
The lawyer for the private complainants, who had organised the children's reading at the dance house, described how the event was abruptly interrupted by the action and participants were frightened. "Criticism must be tolerated, even if it is formulated sharply and polemically, but violence must be punished," she said.
Defence pleads substantially for acquittal
The lawyer for Tobias L. called for acquittal on almost all charged points. "Members of Junge Tat have never been conspicuous for acts of violence," he said. Only for the dissemination of non-public conversations during the incident at the dance house and for trespass at the same location did he acknowledge guilt on the part of his client – and pleaded for a conditional fine.
The lawyer for Manuel C. requested a full acquittal. His client was politically active and carried out provocative but always non-violent actions, he argued. On the contrary, C. was physically attacked by left-wing extremists at Zürich central station in February 2022 and had therefore masked himself to avoid being recognised. The lawyers for the four other defendants also pleaded for acquittals.
The trial ended after 18:00. The court did not deliver a verdict on Friday; it will be announced at a later date.
Source: 20 Minuten