Left-Wing Extremist Lina E. Sentenced to Five Years, But Released Due to Mitigating Factors

• Left-wing terrorist Lina E. was sentenced to five years and three months in prison, but the judge suspended the arrest warrant against conditions, E. is now free.
• Judge Hans Schlueter-staats sympathies for the left-wing extremists and their motives were already evident in his verdict, he gave them “hero status” and a “respectable” motive.
• Some of the arguments given for the release were absurd: among other things, that she had rheumatism.

Left-wing extremist Lina E. has been sentenced to five years and three months in prison for membership in a criminal organization and dangerous bodily harm. The court thus remains far below the demand of the federal prosecutor, who demanded eight years in prison for Lina E. Just a few hours after the verdict was announced on Wednesday morning, the shock came: Lina E. is free! How did this happen and why was the penalty so low?

The presiding judge, Hans Schlueter-Staats, was very kind to the accused. Her rheumatic disease, which she contracted while in custody, is said to have had a mitigating effect. And: Judge Schlueter-Staats said to the extremist: “Opposing right-wing extremists is a respectable motive.” He only condemned the type, also because in the attacks one victim had only been mistaken for a right-wing extremist by the attackers, but actually is one. So it hit the wrong person. She also suffered from the “hero status” she received through the trial, the judge said. This is “their biggest mortgage” and a violation of their personal rights. A “hero status” within the left-wing extremist scene as a burden that has a mitigating effect in the legal sense?

First Hammerbande, then carpentry apprenticeship

“Five years three months is for someone of their age and otherwise violent and serious,” Schlueter-Staats is quoted as saying by ZDF.

Also to speak for Lina E.: In the detention she behaved in an exemplary manner, did an apprenticeship as a carpenter. The fact that a woman who belonged to an extremist group, which is also known as the “hammer gang” because they tortured their victims with this very tool, was given access to such tools as part of a training course probably didn’t strike anyone as strange. The fact that she continued to deal with such tools and how they work probably didn’t have a mitigating effect on her sentence either. The left-wing extremist also asserted that she would continue her social education studies. By the way, a degree in social pedagogy qualifies you for social work, especially with children. Not professions that one would gladly entrust to members of a torture squad.

Nevertheless, this very woman is now at large. The prison sentence is only postponed. Lina E. will be arrested as soon as the verdict is final – if she hasn’t gone into hiding by then.

Blackout threat – will she flee?

Shortly after the verdict was announced, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution issued a statement on the case. In it, the head of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Thomas Haldenwang, said: “It is also worrying that an increasing number of violent left-wing extremists are trying to avoid prosecution and may have gone into hiding.” The fact is: Lina E.’s friend, who is also said to be involved in the attacks, is untraceable for more than two years. Why the court came to the conclusion that there was no risk of escape for Lina E. is incomprehensible and contradicts the opinion of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. The only known safeguard of this release is that Lina E. must report to the police twice a week, surrender her passport and identity card, and may only change her place of residence with the permission of the court.