Defining a Terrorist
January 4, 2008
Car bombs do not constitute terrorist activity and are a matter for the states and not the federal prosecutor's office, Germany's Federal Court of Justice ruled on Friday, Dec. 4, in Karlsruhe.
On May 9, 2007, one month prior to the G8 summit in Germany, 900 police officers searched 40 apartments, offices and left-wing meeting places in six German states, taking numerous documents into custody.
The raid, which has now been judged illegal, was ordered by the federal prosecutor's office after left-wing activists came under suspicion of planning terrorist attacks surrounding the summit.
Court doubts terrorism intent
One of the groups was accused by the federal prosecutor's office of having committed 12 acts of violence, mainly using car bombs, over a two-year period, resulting in damage totaling 12.6 million euros ($18.5 million).
In a statement issued on Friday, the Federal Court expressed "strong doubt" that this particular group should be criminally prosecuted, though it said its deeds shouldn't be made light of.
A terrorist act is one that causes significant damage to the state, concluded the court.
Friday's ruling came in response to one complaint from a member of the suspected activist group. The court said other similar complaints have yet to be reviewed.
Left-wing politicians applaud court ruling
The head of the Green Party, Claudia Roth, praised the decision as a "blow to the responsible parties."
"It is increasingly becoming a problem that the federal court has to fix decisions made by the federal prosecutor's office in order to uphold law and justice in Germany," said Dietmar Bartsch of the Left Party.
Both Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble and Federal Prosecutor General Monika Harms had advocated the May 9 raid.
In the weeks leading up to the summit in the resort town of Heiligendamm, anti-globalization activists held demonstrations, some of which involved skirmishes with police.