İsmet Tekin’s Closing Statement at the Halle Trial
This statement was published together with several other statements from survivors of the attack, which you can read here.
Your Honour, esteemed representatives of the Public Prosecutor General’s Office, ladies and gentlemen … with the exception of one person!
I should like today to express my heartfelt gratitude to the Presiding Judge. This is the first court trial I have ever experienced and it is very important to me.
With all due respect, I do not accept the comments the Public Prosecutor General’s Office, has made against me. I would ask the Public Prosecutor General’s Office to consider: if that coward had not wanted to kill me, I would certainly have gone to him and stopped him. I would have made sure that he could not continue and hurt other people too.
Why have I been having nightmares for over a year about him trying to kill me and about everything being so painful? Moreover, we have heard from a police officer who stated that he had been a police officer since 1988 and that due to these events he had suffered from severe psychological damage for over seven months and had not yet fully recovered.
If a trained professional comes to an operation, well-prepared – with a bullet-proof vest, with weapons – and is subsequently traumatised like that: what should we say as co-plaintiffs? Then we really don’t need to say another word!
I should like to thank you for your attention, with the exception of one person.
Listen to the victims, consider their perspective – and not just that of the attacker! This is a collective action organised by the Association of Counselling Centers for Victims of Right-wing, Racist and Antisemitic Violence in Germany (VBRG), in cooperation with Belltower.News, NSU Watch, democ.de, OFEK and RIAS. We have documented the closing statements of some of the people who were attacked. We would like to thank the victim counselling services that have supported people throughout this trial.
Interview with on Belltower.News:
Read more of our coverage and reporting on the Halle trial in English and German here.
