This Monday, April 27, the trial begins in Germany against five pro-Palestinian activists, known as the “Ulm 5”, accused of breaking into and causing serious damage to an arms factory linked to Israel last September.
The case has generated intense international controversy, with the families of the accused denouncing what they consider a “political trial” and the extreme detention conditions.
The accused – British, Irish, German and Spanish citizens living in Berlin – are being prosecuted for the events that occurred in the early hours of September 8. According to the prosecution, the group forced entry into the facilities of Elbit Systems, the largest supplier of ground weapons to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), in the city of Ulm (Baden-Württemberg).
Using axes, the activists destroyed laboratory equipment and office supplies, detonated smoke bombs and painted graffiti on the façade. After the action, the activists themselves published a video of the assault on social networks, alerted the police and waited at the premises to be arrested. The material damage is estimated between 200,000 and one million euros.
The German State not only charges them with trespassing and damage to property, but also participation in a criminal organization under section 129 of the German penal code. This qualification is what has allowed them to be kept in preventive detention without bail since their arrest, as they are considered a “threat to society.”
“Emergency assistance”
His defense team, made up of eight lawyers, plans to radically change the process. Their central argument is based on section 32 of the German criminal code, which justifies unlawful acts if they are carried out as “emergency assistance” to prevent imminent harm to third parties.
Benjamin Düsberg, lawyer for one of the accused, stated: “Our intention is to use the process to turn the tables. We want to show that it is not our clients who should be in the dock, but the bosses of Elbit, who continued to send weapons even during the genocide.”
“We want to show that it is not our clients who should be in the dock, but the bosses of Elbit, who continued to send weapons even during the genocide”
Düsberg maintains that the destruction of technical equipment was justified to obstruct the movement of weapons to Israel, in a context where the International Court of Justice has already described the accusation of genocide in Gaza in 2024 as “plausible.”
The families of those detained have expressed their anguish at the conditions in which the “Ulm 5” have been imprisoned. Activists have reportedly been locked up for up to 23 hours a day in separate prisons, with severe restrictions on visits, phone calls and access to books.
Mimi Tatlow-Golden, mother of one of the accused, expressed fear that the German state is trying to send a punitive message: “They only caused material damage in a specific place with the aim of stopping a genocide. They did not hide their identity and surrendered. They do not represent a danger to the public. This can only be seen as a trial for political purposes.”
For his part, lawyer Matthias Schuster added: “Our clients are not dangerous, but the authorities believe they must be seen as such to justify the strict custody conditions in which they have been held.”
Germany is Israel’s second largest arms supplier, behind only the United States. This trial comes at a time of maximum social tension in Europe regarding the conflict in Gaza, and the verdict could set a critical precedent on the limits of civil resistance and the responsibility of defense companies under international law. If found guilty, the activists could face up to five years in prison.
