Hammer Gang Trial: Intent to Kill?

The crowds in front of the high-security wing of the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court on Tuesday were so great that entry controls dragged on until midday. So that the judicial officers can then occupy the last free seats in the auditorium of the large hall with its high glass panes, in which trials against jihadist terrorists usually take place, the presiding judge Lars Bachler and his Senate retreat for another ten minutes.

The relatives and supporters of the six young defendants are using this unexpected time for fan support. “Free all Antifas,” they shout several times with rhythmic clapping and then: “You are not alone.” Those defendants who return to the courtroom after a bathroom break are greeted with cheers and standing applause like stars appearing on a stage. Paula P., Emilie D., Clara W., Nele A., Luca S. – five young women from Thuringia – and Moritz S., who comes from Leipzig, wave back, blow kisses to the audience and make heart signs.

In sharp contrast to this is what the Federal Prosecutor General (GBA) is accusing them of. The defendants have to answer for grievous bodily harm and attempted murder. As members of a left-wing extremist criminal organization called Antifa Ost, also known as the Hammer Gang, they are said to have carried out violent attacks on people they identified as neo-Nazis in eastern Germany and the Hungarian capital Budapest.

This is not the first trial against alleged members of the Hammer Gang. In spring 2023, Lina E. and three other young people were sentenced to prison terms of up to around five years in Dresden for a series of attacks in Saxony and Thuringia. Johann G., who is considered the head of Antifa East, is also currently being tried before the Dresden Higher Regional Court. At the end of September, the Munich Higher Regional Court sentenced Hanna S., from Nuremberg, who is said to have helped beat up right-wing extremists in Budapest in February 2023, to five years in prison. In Budapest, Maja T. is currently having to answer for the matter. The verdict against the nonbinary person is expected at the end of the month.

Budapest was the culmination point of Antifa East. According to investigators, several members drove to the Hungarian capital to ambush right-wing extremists who had traveled from all over Europe for the annual “Day of Honor” there. They sneaked up behind their victims, believing they were neo-Nazis, knocked them to the ground with telescopic batons and other impact weapons, beat them and kicked them. These incidents are also the focus of the proceedings that started on Tuesday. This Budapest trial is taking place in Düsseldorf because two of the six defendants who were publicly wanted turned themselves in to the authorities in North Rhine-Westphalia at the beginning of 2025.

According to the investigators’ findings, Nele A. and a like-minded person sprayed a man with pepper spray at the Budapest train station on the morning of February 9th three years ago. Shortly afterwards, the young woman, along with Emilie D., Paula P. and Clara W. and the alleged ringleader Johann G., followed three people in front of a café in downtown Budapest, according to the indictment, which took around an hour to read out. It is a chronicle of violence. “The group kicked and hit the victims with batons, among other things.”

The following day, Nele A., Emilie D., Moritz S. and Clara W. are said to have attacked another person who had previously been spied on from behind and “severely injured his head”. “Emilie D. sprayed pepper spray into the victim’s face,” says a federal prosecutor. In the evening it hit two other people on the street. “The perpetrators sprayed an unknown substance into the victims’ faces and repeatedly punched them.” One of the two victims was knocked to the ground with a blow to the head. “Even as he lay unconscious on the sidewalk, he received further blows with a striking tool to the head and entire body.”

As in the Dresden trial against Johann G., Düsseldorf is not just about the attacks in Budapest. On April 23, 2022, previously unidentified members of the Hammer Gang simultaneously attacked stores in Erfurt, Magdeburg, Halle and Schwerin that sold the Thor Steinar clothing brand, which is popular with right-wing extremists. According to the investigators’ findings, Emilie D. was significantly involved in the attack in Erfurt. “She violently pulled the saleswoman to the ground and gave her numerous punches to the head and upper body,” the indictment says.

An accomplice struck the victim lying on the floor at least twenty times with a telescopic baton, while others sprayed foul-smelling butyric acid and pepper spray over large areas of the store. In mid-January 2023, Emilie D., together with Johann G., is said to have knocked down two previously spied-on members of a right-wing extremist party from behind in Erfurt and maltreated them with their fists, batons and a hammer, causing life-threatening injuries. One of the victims suffered a fractured skull base. The Federal Prosecutor’s Office considers this Erfurt attack and two of the Budapest attacks to be attempted murders.

When the six defendants turned themselves in to the authorities in Düsseldorf, they released a short statement in which they described the accusation of attempted murder as a “politically motivated escalation” that was “hard to beat in terms of ridiculousness.” Rather, it is obvious that “the current anti-fascist movement is not aimed at killing Nazis.” The defense lawyers followed up on Tuesday and accused the GBA of pursuing a “political intention” with this part of the indictment. They emphasized that the Munich Higher Regional Court, in its ruling on the Budapest trial against Hanna S., considered the accusation of attempted murder to be unproven after months of taking evidence.