Criminal or association? Charges dropped against one of the three accused in the Munich “Zündlumpen” case
Once again yellow envelopes fly into the mailboxes of anarchists in Munich. This time without the spirited ramblings of our favorite General SA employee Firoozi (or rather we seem to be her favorites). Instead this time it is the association “VRIOLG Dr. Stoll” & Co., from the higher court of Munich, that has honored some anarchists with their text. More than three months after the judicial association Himmelstoß & Co. declined to reopen the “Zündlumpen” case in the Staatsschutz (SS) chamber, due to a lack of evidence connecting one of the accused to the publishing of “Zündlumpen,” and after General SA Firoozi appealed the decision, the higher court of Munich has finally graced us with their decision.
The judicial association Himmelstoß & Co. had already surprised us with their aversion to the implausible storyline of the Firoozi’an indictment. Now the judicial association Stoll & Co., despite their institutional and ideological connection to the General SA and her affinity for the fundamentally suspect literary genre of jurisprudence, seems to be offended by General SA Firoozi’s literary competence. They also found the Firoozi’an plot around “Zündlumpen” so implausible that they affirmed the objection made by the Himmelstoß association, and declined to pursue the case against one of the three accused, due to a lack of evidence.
Admittedly General SA Firoozi made little effort to defend her plot in the appeal. Contradicting all of the judicial principles that the post-national socialist german state relies on to legitimize it’s rule over land and people, she argued that, the fact that nothing proves that the third accused had anything to do with the publication or distribution of “Zündlumpen,” doesn’t mean that he still couldn’t have had something to do with “Zündlumpen.” It is unclear how General SA Firoozi got this job, since she seems to have slept through even the introductory lecture in law school, but this is of little interest to us. Clearly this statement was too garish for the association Stoll & Co. and so they denied General SA Firoozi’s appeal and definitively declined to open a case against the third accused. Thereby also declining to open a case for criminal association because according to § 129 StGB this requires three accused.
In her original indictment in the “Zündlumpen” case General SA Firoozi wrote that the “Anarchist cookbook” and “PRISMA,” found in Nathalie’s basement, can be considered “manuals to commit serious violent crimes against the state” and claimed that Manuel and Nathalie acquired these manuals with the intention to kill police officers. She argues this based on the fact that the “Anarchist Cookbook” contains instructions on how to modify a shotgun and how to build a silencer and the “PRISMA” includes a manual on how to make a Molotov-cocktail. She goes on to state that texts hostile to the police and all of the “ingredients” to make a Molotov-cocktail were found in the same basement. The judicial association Himmelstoß & Co. dropped this charge because it exceeds the statue of limitations; it cannot be determined at which point in time these texts were acquired and so it must be assumed that this happened outside of the statute of limitation. In her appeal General SA Firoozi doesn’t even make an effort to defend this charge. Her original argument must have offended the higher court association Stoll & Co. so much that they not only upheld Himmelstoß’ dropping of the charges, but couldn’t help but remark that the only potential “ingredient” for a Molotov-cocktail that was found was a piece of clothe. The SS cops KHM Rommeis and PK Schneider didn’t even manage to find the cliche “ten empty bottles of wine,” that used to be enough to charge people with making Molotovs, let alone the benzine, diesel, glue or styrofoam, in Nathalie’s basement.
However, the higher court association Stoll & Co. did do General SA Firoozi one favor and opened the case in lower court. At least the judicial association Himmelstoß & Co., who were not particularly excited about the “Zündlumpen” case to begin with, don’t have to busy themselves with the matter anymore, since the the criminal association charge has been dropped and the case will be handled in a normal lower court. This decision is based on the amount of files, more than 10.000 pages, as well as the expected uncooperative attitude of Manuel and Nathalie, and the extended duration of the proceedings, which is illustrated by the fact that already, especially during their 7 month long pre-trial detention, three binders were filled with motions and appeals. But the decision to move the case to the lower court is also especially based on the expected “public interest” in the “Zündlumpen” case.
Aha, who would have thought that the judicial system would so blatantly announce that they intend to hold a show trial in which anarchist ideas will be denounced by proxy. It is clear from the “ideological categorization” that these ideas, at least as articulated by “Zündlumpen,” offend the sensibilities of Dr. Stoll & Co. who previously ranted about the use of the term “judicial pigs.” When reading the astonishing analysis of the “ideology” of “Zündlumpen” one can’t help but think that years of studying entire libraries filled with rules and regulations and engaging with legal sophistry and hairsplitting left little time to study the “elements and origins of total domination.” We were surprised to read that the “Zündlumpen” is attested a hostility to civilization considered to be “totalitarian.”
To our knowledge totalitarianism is usually understood to be the moment in which the radical climax of the enlightenment and civilization veers into the irrational and creates a totalitarian state. Or as the alienated character of the division of labor of a bureaucratic and technological civilization that potentiates “evil” in it’s banality. And not as a rejection of all state authority and the supposed “accomplishments” of modern civilization. But whatever, what do we care about the literacy skills of some judges. In any case, it is certain that the charges of criminal association against the supposed editorial of “Zündlumpen” have been dropped. And that, four years after the first house raids, the cops have no choice but to return all of the printers, the paper, and the publications, that they stole when they confiscated an entire printing space that they accused the anarchist, dismissed from the case, of operating. Four years later some state authorities, who previously signed off on every raid and every confiscation, have come to the conclusion that there isn’t actually any proof that the third accused was involved with “Zündlumpen.” Of course this must just be an honest mistake…
Once again we wait, but at least we can put down the bone-dry, although occasionally unintentionally useful, texts written by Firoozi and Stoll & Co. Now we can spend time on more exciting things, relieved to know we only have to deal with such monotony when compelled to at gun point.
What’s happened so far:
–Rebellion in times of total police surveillance
–Cops and robbers? A story of investigative techniques + update on Munich Zündlumpen-§129 case
–Solidarity with the anarchists N and M! About the latest wave of repression
Available in well stocked anarchist bookstores and libraries etc.:
-About Munich 2019-2025: Petrol, Printer Ink, and Paranormal Activity