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In the case against Mbolo Yufanyi Movuh for acts of resistance against police officers and an attempted liberation of prisoners, the judge in charge, Marieluis Brinkmann, curtails the defendant's rights , steers the interested audience, mothers and protects an alleged violent police witness, and finally refuses to interrupt the hearing of evidence in order to file a challenge on grounds of bias on the part of the defending lawyer.

The case against Mbolo Yufanyi Movuh was opened on September 26th because he took part in the protests against the cooperation of the Nigerian Embassy with the German government concerning the deportation of refugees on the 15th of October 2012 in Berlin and because of the accusations by police officers displayed above (call for process monitoring: http://thevoiceforum.org/node/3337, statement from the court: http://thevoiceforum.org/node/3344, process report: http://thevoiceforum.org/node/3351). Further days of proceeding took place on the 14th and 28th of October 2013 (short process report: http://www.thevoiceforum.org/node/3370).

Right at the beginning of the first day of the trial the prosecutor in charge of all the concerned procedures Attorney Mark Winkler chimed in before the accused finished his opening statement and called the judge Marieluis Brinkmann to enforce silence in the courtroom. He referred to previous cases in which, according to him, there already had been "perturbances" by the monitoring audience, so that even the most silent expressions (in particular those reacting to his comments!) should be prevented from radically. Ms. Brinkmann left this illicite interruption uncommented, despite the advocate’s mention that the majority of the occurring whisper conversation were translations for observers or explanations for newly arrived observers.

The main witness and alleged author of the complaint, commissioner Lamprecht of the 11th corps of the riot police in Berlin, finds himself in the witness stand since the first day of the trial and is questioned by the defense especially regarding the intensive operations on the "day of offense" and to his previous involvement in the case. A request by the accused addressed to this police officer to speak a little louder as he could hardly understand him ( Mbolo Yufanyi is not a German native speaker), Ms. Brinkmann tried to downplay this issue with the remark that she understood the witness clearly enough. An intervention by the lawyers, who referred to the present audience, was blocked by the argument, that the process was, after all, not carried out FOR the general public and that she was suspecting that the objection of the accused was made only in favor of the audience.

Only after the commonly-superficial questionning by judge Brinkmann and prosecutor Winkler, the PK Lamprecht has been subjected to an appropriate survey by the defense. In this case the "witness" revealed not only an extremely changing situational memory. On the one hand, there was at least one exchange between witnesses during a screening uncommented. On the other hand, he has been confronted with diverse involvements in three different court cases (Mbolo Yufanyi, Aboubacar Sy and Thomas Ndindah) which ultimately refer to the same context. Judge Brinkmann followed this event with a clear expression of disinterest and closed her eyes frequently. Later, she stated with open eyes, that she was not “on the intellectual level” of the trial and imputed to the lawyers of the defense that their questions would not reveal any connection with the present case. Empathically, she explained to the witness that she would dispose of the direction of the trial, but is not willing to restrict the survey by the defense since the following applications of objection would end up taking more time. Laconically, she commented the survey of the police officer regarding any racist motivation: "Just ask him directly whether he is racist!"

The third day of the trial directly started with a scandal: a spectator and an activist of the VOICE Refugee Forum, which is closely and continuously involved in the original reporting of court cases, was observed by the court clerk as he took notes. Judge Marieluis Brinkmann therefore opted for an immediate ban of transcripts - this would only be allowed to the accredited press. On demand for the reason of the ban she pompously replied, she could decide by herself who is allowed to make written notes. This disregard of the public interest in the trial is unbearable because no understandable interest can thus be ‘protected’ and an independent coverage is made difficult but it can nonetheless be prevented.

The continuation of the lawyer's questioning of police commissioner Lamprecht concerning the delineation of the facts directly led to the next issue: Judge Brinkmann stated that she couldn’t figure out the sense of the sketches, while avoiding to illuminate her knowledge by asking for further clarification. When asked by the lawyer of defense, whether she meant the sketches would not have anything to do with the case, she answered like in the previous day: "Yes - basically the questions are irrelevant." When the lawyer thereon demanded an interruption of the trial in order to consult his client regarding an urgent challenge on grounds of bias as well as a record of a quote by the judge. The judge rejected these demands on the grounds that, regarding the former, a note in the protocol would cover the urgency, and, regarding the latter, that it was not necessary and that the examination of the witness Lamprecht should be continued undisturbed. It was only the lawyer’s application to judicial resolutions that led to a forced break in order to note these down - the possibility of discuss with his client arose merely as a collateral effect of the pause. The hearing of witness Lamprecht was continued after the rendition of the judicial decisions, although she would have had to start from the beginning, if partiality would have been confirmed, after all the impertinences described here – in a non-partial way !

We, the activists of the VOICE Refugee Forum Germany and the Caravan for the Rights of Refugees and Migrants in Germany, condemn the arrogant and law distorting behavior of the Judge Marieluis Brinkmann with all due sharpness - and especially on behalf of the public in court. Her ostentatiously displayed lack of interest for relevant facts together with the restriction of the rights of the accused and of the public interest in independent reporting is unworthy and presumptuous. We support the motion by the defence as we see it as a necessary precondition to ensure a process in the rule of law deserving its name.

Although we and fellow activists are forced to defend ourselves in German courts, we know that we won’t experience justice for Yufanyi Movuh and the other accused activists and that we can’t expect it. That we must stand in court is already a farce. Nevertheless, we will use these trials as a political platform to expose the lies of the police as well as the unconstitutional and undemocratic behavior of prosecutors and courts.

We already pointed out injustice and partiality in the cases of Ndeye Marieme Sarr, Oury Jalloh, Layé Conde, Dominique Koumadio, Christy Schwundeck and others. These Black sisters and brothers have all been murdered by the German police and covered up by prosecutors and judges. Until today, none of their families experienced any justice in German courts. The fact that in none of the cases the clarification of the truth or any compensation for the families have been achieved doesn’t surprise us – and we won’t be surprised if the ones still alive and defending themselves within this racist system do not witness justice.
Nevertheless, humanity should be informed that there is no real justice in Germany and Europe.

The VOICE Refugee Network Germany

Next trial dates:
Mbolo Yufanyi M.: 14.11.2013, 10:50 room 672 Turmstr 91 (if the challenge on grounds of bias is rejected)
Aboubakar Sy: 19.11.2013, 12:00. room D 113 main building Turmstraße
(entrance via Wilsnacker Straße 4).

Further Information on Mbolos trial:
http://thevoiceforum.org/node/3337 -

http://thevoiceforum.org/node/3351 -

http://thevoiceforum.org/node/3370 

Background: http://thevoiceforum.org/search/node/Nigerian%20Embassy

Contact: Mbolo Yufanyi Movuh (+49 170 8788124; the_voice_berlin@emdash.org)
Rex Osa (+49 176 27873832; thevoice_bdw@yahoo.de)
Thomas Ndindah (+49 176 99621504; thevoiceforum@gmx.de)