The Ulm Five: Fighters against "genocide" or "terrorists"?

The trial of five activists accused of attacking the German subsidiary of Israeli arms manufacturer Elbit Systems in September 2025 has begun.

The trial continues this Monday (May 11), after it did not even begin properly in the Stuttgart courtroom at the end of April. Namely, security measures are high, and defense lawyers have complained that they cannot communicate confidentially with their clients in the courtroom under such conditions.

Elbit Systems is one of Israel's largest arms manufacturers with subsidiaries in several countries. The company produces drones as well as command, surveillance and telecommunications equipment for several armed forces, including the German Bundeswehr. At the same time, Germany is the second largest arms supplier to Israel.

The defendants, who hold British, Irish, German and Spanish citizenship, are charged with trespassing, destruction of property, membership in a criminal organisation and use of symbols of terrorist organisations. They have been held in separate prisons since their arrest on 8 September 2025 and face several years in prison.

Footage posted online purportedly shows activists breaking into the offices of an Elbit Systems subsidiary in Ulm, southern Germany, damaging several computers and other technical equipment and writing slogans on the walls, including "child killers." According to the defense, when security on site alerted the police, the activists remained to await arrest.

The prosecution sees the group as a "criminal organization"

The group is being tried under Article 129 of the Criminal Code, which prohibits the establishment and membership of criminal organizations. The article has become controversial in recent years as prosecutors have increasingly used it against other protest movements, such as the climate group Last Generation.

Amnesty International and others claim that German prosecutors are abusing it.

"This carries the risk of equating legitimate civic engagement with organized crime," Paula Zimmerman, spokesperson for Amnesty International Germany, tells us.

The Stuttgart State Prosecutor's Office argued that the application of Article 129 was legitimate, given that the group "Palestine Action Germany", to which they alleged the defendants belonged, had been declared a "criminal organization" by several courts ahead of the trial.

"This legal interpretation has been adopted in all decisions made in this case so far by various courts — most recently by the Higher Regional Court in Stuttgart," the answers to DW read.

Defense attorneys tell DW that the prosecution has not proven that "Palestine Action Germany" even exists as a formal organization.

The defense intends to argue that the Ulm Five, as they are now called, attempted to stop the genocide Israel is carrying out in Gaza through "assistance in self-defense."

German media, citing Elbit Systems spokespeople, reported that the Ulm facility was used for telecommunications parts sold to the German military.

"That is not true," said Mateš Breuer, defense attorney for defendant Leandra R.

"We have evidence that the research being conducted in Ulm is important for the production of drones. We have evidence that parts from Ulm are being delivered to Elbit facilities in Israel — technical components for tanks and drones." He said that this evidence will be presented to the court during the trial.

Postponed procedure

The trial took place in the high-security courtroom of Stamsheim prison, the same courtroom where the notorious trial of the left-wing terrorists of the Red Army Faction (RAF) took place in the 1970s. The defense and several observers in the German media interpreted the choice of venue as an attempt to portray the five as terrorists.

The trial itself began with delays in late April, when 11 defense attorneys refused to sit down because their clients were seated behind a glass partition, which prevented direct contact with the lawyers. This, the lawyers said, was a clear violation of confidential relations.

"At one point I had to shout through the glass," Breuer told DW.

"There was no way we could talk without supervision. In theory, anything my client said to me would be heard by the court."

"I've never had this problem before," added Breuer, who said he wrote to the court a month before the hearing to clarify these issues, but received no response.

"It wasn't a court hearing, it was a show to portray our clients as terrorists. This court is not neutral."

After a two-hour break, the judge adjourned the proceedings completely, and it is still unclear how this dilemma will be resolved.

Speaking outside the courtroom on April 27, Josie, the partner of defendant VK, said the state's measures were disproportionate. "These are five activists who carried out this action targeting only material property," Josie told DW. "They didn't try to hurt anyone, they're not a threat to society, they don't deserve to be behind glass."

Conditions of detention

Partners and relatives of the accused say the German state is trying to make an example of them with unusually long and strict detention.

In a statement emailed to DW, the Stuttgart Higher Regional Court said that the law allows the court to order an extension of pre-trial detention beyond the prescribed six months under certain conditions.

"The Higher Provincial Court based its decision, among other things, on the existence of a flight risk, which would not be sufficiently mitigated even by posting bail," the statement said. "Visits and telecommunications require authorization and are monitored if the conditions for such an order are met."

The prosecutor, however, said he had not requested any special detention conditions. "These are standard restrictions under German criminal procedure law that accompany a court order for pre-trial detention," the spokesman said.

But the friends and family of the accused are not satisfied. "I think it's completely unjustified," Josie said. "The five of them carried out this action and waited for the police to come. They didn't resist arrest, they didn't hide their faces, they didn't try to escape. The action was clearly a political statement. They all have studies, jobs or other commitments in Berlin. They have no incentive to flee the country. They were ready to take responsibility for their actions the whole time."

The International Court of Justice has been investigating Israel's actions in Gaza since South Africa filed a case with the United Nations' highest court in December 2023, claiming that it amounted to genocide. Israel's actions in the war have been described as genocide by many international human rights organizations and a United Nations commission. Israel denies this.