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Posted on 04/10/2003 6:45:16 AM PDT by NativeNewYorker
Heidelberg, Germany (dpa) - A couple go on trial in Germany Friday, accused of conspiring to set off a bomb at a U.S. base on the first
anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
The Turkish national and his American girlfriend deny any plot,
saying chemicals were stockpiled in their apartment to prepare
homemade fireworks. But a U.S. woman who was living in Heidelberg
insists the girlfriend gave her a veiled tip to stay off the base.
It remained uncertain this week if the crucial witness would show
up at the trial. Lawyers said her evidence might possibly be heard by
video link-up to the United States where she currently lives. The
woman defendant denies such a conversation ever occurred.
No bombing took place in Heidelberg, a city beloved of tourists in
southwestern Germany, but the arrest of the couple at the start of
September last year, weeks after the tip-off was passed on to police,
made headlines round the world.
The couple will not be charged in state court with terrorism as
such, nor are there likely to be allegations of links to al-Qaeda.
The indictment accuses the couple of conspiring to set off an
explosion or cause the occurrence of a crime involving explosives. The
maximum possible sentence would be 11 years, 3 months.
Six trial dates have been set down with a verdict expected at the
start of May.
Legal analysts say the male defendant, 25, starts out at a legal
disadvantage, since the court will hear he not only kept a mixture of
gunpowder and blasting powder in the apartment in his suburban
apartment but also metal pipes and a picture of Osama bin Laden.
At the time of his arrest, the male was serving a suspended prison
sentence for drug abuse, and he could be deported to his native Turkey
if the court finds he committed a further crime while on parole.
The 23-year-old girlfriend was employed in a supermarket on the
U.S. base that sells American foods to soldiers who pay in dollars.
''The main witness is the key to the trial,'' said Andrea Combe, a
woman lawyer defending the male accused, adding that she would
consistently tell the court her client had no bomb plans, even if
possession of the chemicals was clearly illegal.
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