Word: trialing
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...During the trial, Gelowicz admitted he had been a member of the al-Qaeda-linked, Pakistan-based terrorist group, Islamic Jihad Union, and that in 2006, he had traveled to an IJU training camp in northwestern Pakistan on the border with Afghanistan where he received training in weapons and explosives and met Schneider, who later became one of the other operatives in the Sauerland cell. On their return to Germany, Gelowicz's lawyer says the men discussed a number of high-profile U.S. targets, like Ramstein Air Base. "They had clear goals - they wanted to kill U.S. soldiers in Germany...
...Counterterrorism experts say the trial confirmed for the first time the existence of an IJU cell on German soil. "The IJU showed it was determined to plot terrorist attacks in Europe," says Guido Steinberg, an analyst at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs in Berlin. And, according to Steinberg, the number of homegrown extremists has only increased since then. He estimates that in 2009, around 40 jihadists traveled from Germany to terrorist training camps in Pakistan. "The challenge for the German authorities is to reach out to these young men and small Islamist groups as early as possible...
...confessions of the men in the Sauerland cell were so thorough and detailed that even prosecutors were surprised. But did they regret their actions? Gelowicz's lawyer points out that his client said during the trial "luckily nothing happened," seeming to be relieved their terror plot had been thwarted. Luckily, Germany did avert a major terrorist attack - this time. The question is whether the authorities have learned any lessons to prevent the next homegrown plot from coming to fruition...
They were young disaffected men who were radicalized and turned into Islamist militants bent on killing American soldiers stationed in Germany. In a Düsseldorf courtroom where the four men were standing trial this week, Judge Ottmar Breidling said the defendants had dreamed of "mounting a second 9/11." But their plot went awry when German police were tipped off to their activities and special forces raided their hideout in September 2007. On Thursday, as Germany's biggest Islamic terrorist trial came to an end, the four men - dubbed the "Sauerland cell" - were convicted of a number of terror-related...
...verdicts brought to a close a 10-month trial that highlighted the danger of homegrown terrorists in Germany. The defendants - Fritz Gelowicz, 30, and Daniel Schneider, 24, both Germans; Adem Yilmaz, a 31-year-old Turk; and Atilla Selek, a 25-year-old Turkish-German - had confessed to all of the charges against them. Prosecutors detailed how they had plotted to bomb U.S. military bases in Germany, such as Ramstein Air Base, as well as places like discos and pubs where U.S. service personnel were known to go. The attacks were planned for October 2007, just before a parliamentary vote...