Ulm5 trial conditions violate EU law, defense argues

The trial of five activists, dubbed the Ulm5, accused of vandalizing the German offices of Elbit Systems, an Israeli defense firm, has highlighted alleged violations of European human rights law. Mathes Breuer, a defense lawyer for one of the accused, stated that the conditions under which the defendants are presented in court breach Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees the right to a fair trial and the presumption of innocence.

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Our clients have to watch the trial from behind a glass fence. There is no way to communicate with our clients during the trial.

Breuer detailed that the five defendants, who hail from Ireland, Germany, Spain, and the UK, are forced to observe the proceedings from behind a glass partition, preventing communication with their legal counsel. Furthermore, they are consistently handcuffed throughout the court sessions. "This is a clear violation of Article 6 of the European convention that nobody should be presented in a way that violates the presumption of innocence," Breuer asserted at a press conference in Brussels.

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This is a clear violation of Article 6 of the European convention that nobody should be presented in a way that violates the presumption of innocence.

The defense team also expressed doubts about the court's impartiality, particularly concerning its potential to examine the situation in Gaza and Elbit Systems' role in supplying weapons to the Israeli Defense Forces. "We therefore have doubts, to say the least, that this court will look at the facts and the situation in Gaza, and the company that is supposed to be the victim here, which has effectively supported the genocide," Breuer added.

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We therefore have doubts, to say the least, that this court will look at the facts and the situation in Gaza, and the company that is supposed to be the victim here, which has effectively supported the genocide.

Family members of the activists have also raised concerns about their well-being. Nicky Robertson, mother of British activist Hannah Hailu, reported significant weight loss among the group and alleged that prison authorities denied her daughter access to tonsillitis treatment. Robertson described the pre-trial conditions as "procedural violence," noting that the use of a glass screen during one defendant's detention ceased only after intervention from Irish parliamentarians. Sinn Féin MEP Lynn Boylan confirmed that the Irish State had intervened regarding the glass screen, and a Spanish consulate made a "small intervention" for another defendant.

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One has lost about 10kg in weight.