Four men accused of belonging to a radical Islamic terror cell that plotted to attack U.S. targets in Germany announced during their trial on Tuesday they are prepared to confess to some or all of the charges against them.
Adem Yilmaz, an alleged member of the cell, was the first to announce during the 15th day of the trial that he wanted to confer with his three co-defendants and then offer a confession. Yilmaz said through his defense attorney, Ricarda Lang, that he wanted to "explain comprehensively." He said the lengthy trial had changed Yilmaz's mind: "He's bored," said Lang.
Judge Ottmar Breidling allowed a recess, while the defendants conferred under the watch of federal police.
Fritz Gelowicz, the alleged ringleader of the group accused of planning bombings for the fall of 2007, said he also wanted to confess and would then submit to questioning. "There will be surprises," said his defense attorney, Dirk Uden.
But it could be two weeks before the members confess, since the trial is not set to resume until June 23.
Gelowicz, 29, and co-defendant Daniel Martin Schneider, 22, are German converts to Islam. They and Adem Yilmaz, 29, a Turk living in Germany, and Attila Selek, a 23-year-old German national, are suspected of operating as a German cell of the radical Islamic Jihad Union — a group the U.S. State Department says was responsible for coordinated bombings outside the U.S. and Israeli embassies in Uzbekistan in July 2004.
Prosecutors allege they plotted bombing attacks in Germany against American citizens and facilities.
Prosecutors said the group considered attacking several cities, including Frankfurt, Dortmund, Dusseldorf, Cologne, Stuttgart, Munich and Ramstein — home to a large U.S. Air Force base — which were to be carried out before Germany's parliament voted in October, 2007, to extend the country's commitment of troops to Afghanistan.
Gelowicz, Schneider and Yilmaz were arrested in Germany on Sept. 4, 2007, and have been held in custody ever since. Selek was arrested a month later in Turkey. They face charges of membership in a terrorist organization, preparing bombing attacks and conspiracy to commit murder and a bombing attack — which together carry a 10-year maximum sentence.
Schneider faces an additional charge of attempted murder, which carries a possible life sentence. He is alleged to have fired a police officer's gun in a tussle during his arrest. No one was injured.
