Suspect in Frankfurt terror trial tells court he spent six months in Afghanistan training camps

FRANKFURT, Germany - One of four Algerians accused of plotting to blow up a French Christmas market told a German court Monday that he had spent six months in training camps in Afghanistan, and said he met two of the other defendants in neighboring Pakistan.

In nearly four hours of questioning by Judge Karlheinz Zeiher, Salim Boukari said that on his journey back to Europe, he met co-defendants Aeurobi Beandalis and Fouhad Sabour in a guest house in Pakistan that was a base for people traveling to and from the Afghan camps.

The three, along with fourth defendant Lamine Maroni, are charged with belonging to a terrorist organization, plotting to plant explosives with the intent to kill, falsifying documents and violating weapons laws.

The four insist they were targeting an empty synagogue, not the lively market. They have been standing trial in a Frankfurt state court since April.

Boukari, who has admitted filming scenes from the Christmas market in Strasbourg outside the city's cathedral and calling people in the pictures "enemies of God," claimed he couldn't remember the exact location of the two camps he attended between late 1999 and early 2000. He insisted, however, that they was not run by Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network.

"Veterans of the war against the Soviets trained us, they were all Algerians," said Boukari. "I spent six months learning to use light and heavy weaponry."

Boukari also said the idea to target a synagogue came from an Algerian in London who had recruited him for the trip to Afghanistan — contradicting a statement by Sabour that the group itself had made the decision.

Prosecutors contend that the group's video proves the intended target was the holiday market. If convicted, the men face up to 15 years in prison.

The four suspects were arrested in Frankfurt in December 2000. A fifth suspect, Abdelkader Krimou, was arrested four months later, but charged only with belonging to a terrorist organization.

Krimou has since been released, because the time he was in custody exceeded the maximum sentence for the offense with which he is charged.

The Frankfurt suspects are believed to belong to the so-called Meliani group, which has been linked to a larger group of predominantly North African extremists known as Nonaligned Mujahideen, with ties to al-Qaida.

May 06, 2003

Man, Woman Cleared in German Bomb Plot
By ULRICH WILLENBERG
ASSOCIATED PRESS

HEIDELBERG, Germany (AP) -

A court cleared a Turkish man and his American girlfriend Tuesday of charges that they planned to bomb a U.S. military base in Germany around the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, but sentenced the man to 18 months in prison on lesser charges.

Osman Petmezci, 25, was initially charged with planning to attack the U.S. Army's Criminal Investigation Department or a store on the base in this southwestern city. The base is home to 16,000 U.S. troops and dependents stationed mainly with the Army's European headquarters and the V Corps' headquarters.

His girlfriend, Astrid Eyzaguirre, 23, was charged with being an accessory.

Prosecutors conceded Tuesday they lacked evidence to uphold the bomb plot charges against the defendants, who both worked on the base.

But it convicted Petmezci of illegally possessing explosives, theft and unrelated drug violations.

"This wasn't child's play," Judge Edgar Gramlich told the court, but "it is a long, long step from making a pipe bomb to carrying out an attack."

The girlfriend, Eyzaguirre, was acquitted of the explosives charge but given six months' probation for violating drug laws by growing marijuana.

Prosecutors had sought a two-year and 10-month jail term for Petmezci and a one-year suspended sentence for Eyzaguirre.

German police arrested the couple Sept. 5 on an FBI tip. Investigators found gunpowder and six pipes they believe were intended for making a bomb, and other chemicals that could be used for homemade explosives, at their apartment. They also found a picture of Osama bin Laden.

Prosecutors charged that the couple had anti-American and anti-Israeli views and that they had planned the attack to take place around the first anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

But the case stumbled last week when a key prosecution witness retracted earlier statements that Eyzaguirre had mentioned two specific bomb targets at the base - prompting the court to release her from custody.

Judge Gramlich said that while Eyzaguirre had known of her boyfriend's experiments with explosives, she had not encouraged them or been involved.

"I love Osman, my family and my fatherland," Eyzaguirre said in a statement before the verdict.

Petmezci had told the court that he only wanted to make firecrackers.

Prosecutor Joerg Richter maintained that the materials in the apartment made plain that Petmezci wanted to build a pipe bomb, justifying charges of illegally possessing explosives.

But he conceded that the trial evidence was insufficient to uphold charges that the two plotted a bomb attack against U.S. facilities.

Petmezci was found guilty of theft for stealing the chemicals from his workplace, a suburban Heidelberg factory.

In addition, he and Eyzaguirre were charged with drug violations for growing and using marijuana. The couple said they planned to use the proceeds from selling the drugs to finance a move to the United States.

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