Prosecutors seek sentences of up to 13 years for suspects in German terror plot

Prison terms sought for suspects in German plot

DUESSELDORF, Germany — Prosecutors on Thursday sought prison sentences of up to 13 years for four men being tried over a foiled plot to attack U.S. targets in Germany.

The men were arrested in 2007. They are suspected of operating as a German cell of the radical Islamic Jihad Union, and are charged with plotting bombing attacks in Germany against American citizens and facilities, including the U.S. Air Force’s Ramstein base.

In closing arguments Thursday, chief prosecutor Volker Brinkmann called for Fritz Gelowicz and Daniel Schneider, both German converts to Islam, to be given sentences of 12 1/2 and 13 years respectively, the German news agency DAPD reported.

The pair are being tried along with two Turkish citizens, Adem Yilmaz and Attila Selek. Brinkmann sought sentences of 11 1/2 years for Yilmaz and 5 1/2 years for Selek.

Gelowicz, Schneider and Yilmaz face charges of membership in a terrorist organization, preparing bombing attacks and conspiracy to commit murder.

Schneider faces an additional charge of attempted murder, which carries a possible life sentence, because he is alleged to have fired a police officer’s gun in a tussle during his arrest. No one was injured.

Selek faces lesser charges of supporting a terrorist organization and preparing bombing attacks.

Though no pleas are entered under the German trial system, all four men accused in the plot have decided to confess — a move that could mitigate their sentences.

A verdict is expected March 4.

The German cell had stockpiled 1,600 pounds (730 kilograms) of highly concentrated hydrogen peroxide, purchased from a chemical supplier, and could have mixed the peroxide with other substances to make explosives equivalent to 1,200 pounds (550 kilograms) of dynamite, German officials say.

But German authorities — acting partly on intelligence from the U.S. — had been watching them and covertly replaced all of the hydrogen peroxide with a diluted substitute that could not have been used to produce a bomb.