Former German soldier sentenced to five years in prison

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15th Jul, 2022. 06:46 pm
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Franco A. was charged with posing as an asylum seeker in 2017 and planning an attack.
Prosecutors accused him of purposefully using a false identity to incite anti-immigrant sentiment in Germany.
More than one million asylum seekers entered Germany during the peak of the migrant influx in 2015/16.

Former German soldier sentenced to five and half years in prison on Friday for One of the most publicized terrorism trials in postwar Germany of plotting a far-right attack on senior politicians while posing as a Syrian refugee.

According to German privacy laws, the 33-year-old former army officer, identified as Franco A., was charged with posing as an asylum seeker in 2017 and planning an attack that he apparently hoped would be blamed on refugees and migrants.

While reading out the verdict at Frankfurt’s regional superior court, presiding judge Christoph Koller said ”The accused is guilty of planning a serious act of violence, endangering the state.”

Prosecutors said the Bundeswehr soldier stole ammunition from the German military in the trial, which began in May 2021, with former Justice Minister Heiko Maas or the parliament’s former vice-president, Claudia Roth, seen as possible targets of an attack.

Franco A. was apprehended in 2017 while attempting to retrieve a loaded Nazi-era pistol from a toilet at Vienna International Airport.

According to investigations, his fingerprints later revealed he had a second, false identity as a Syrian refugee. Prosecutors accused Franco A. of purposefully using a false identity to incite growing anti-immigrant sentiment in Germany and spark a national crisis. More than one million asylum seekers entered Germany during the peak of the migrant influx in 2015/16.

On July 8, Frankfurt prosecutor Karin Weingast stated that Franco A. “wanted to stage an attack with a major political impact.”

Ursula von der Leyen, the then-Defense Minister, stated shortly after Franco A.’s arrest that this particular case pointed to a much larger “attitude problem” in the German armed forces.

Former German soldier sentenced to five years in prison

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