Four defendants tried for expanding foam attacks on hundreds of cars
Four young people are on trial in Ulm for property damage to cars in four German federal states. The public prosecutor's office suspects them of having worked as so-called disposable agents for a client.
Trial into expanding foam sabotage with election interference suspicion
Three men and one woman are on trial before the district court in Ulm over a series of expanding foam attacks on hundreds of vehicles. According to tagesspiegel.de, the Ulm public prosecutor's office accuses the 18 to 21-year-old defendants of joint property damage. The group is said to have deliberately damaged numerous cars in Blaubeuren, Langenau, Ulm, Neu-Ulm, Schönefeld in Brandenburg and Berlin in December 2024. According to authorities, the damage amounts to more than 13,000 euros.
According to the indictment, the suspects filled expanding foam into the exhaust pipes of the vehicles and stuck stickers with the text "BE GREENER!" and an image of Robert Habeck, the then Federal Minister for Economic Affairs, on the cars. For car owners, the hardened foam posed a significant problem: the material is subsequently difficult to remove.
Investigators see an attempted election interference behind the seemingly simple property damage. According to the public prosecutor's office assessment, a client deliberately incited the four to carry out the actions in order to influence voting behaviour in the 2025 federal election. The defendants were promised 100 euros per damaged car.
The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution has long warned of attempts by Russian intelligence services to recruit so-called disposable agents in Germany. These agents are to be used for espionage and sabotage. The security authorities regard such acts as part of the hybrid threat to which Germany has been exposed, particularly since the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.
A 19-year-old defendant, who is in custody on account of another offence, made statements regarding the allegations and thereby incriminated his co-defendants. The three other suspects denied the charges or exercised their right to refuse to testify. They remain at liberty.
Investigations into the suspected mastermind have since been discontinued. According to the public prosecutor's office, a suspect reported that the acts were commissioned by what was presumably a Serbian national from Russia. The identity of this person remains unclear. Proceedings against a 29-year-old man from the Alb-Donau district were discontinued.
Source: Google News DE — Crime (de)