‘A show trial and a travesty’ – Trial begins in Germany for Irish citizen

“A show trial, and a travesty of justice that is being endured by the defendants," Richard Boyd Barrett said.

Observers say these obstacles have been put in place so that the defendants struggle to understand what was happening.

The activists have been held in cells for 23 hours a day for ten months.

Although this is a case of property damage only, they are being tried under legislation and in conditions normally reserved for terrorism and organised crime, known as Section 129, carrying up to five years in prison as a possible sentence.

A delegation which includes Irish TDs, including People Before Profit's Richard Boyd Barrett, Social Democrat senator Patricia Stevenson, Sinn Fein TD Mairead Farrell and MEP Lynn Boylan, and Labour TD Duncan Smith.

Boyd Barrett said that the trial is a travesty.

"I am absolutely shocked at what I see as a show trial and a travesty of justice," he said.

"They are being treated as if they are terrorists. The conditions of their detention, the conditions of their trial, the environment of their trial, the manner in which the trial is being prosecuted, would suggest that we are dealing with terrorists or dangerous criminals, when in fact we are dealing with peace activists."

Boyd Barrett added it is "outrageous" that the group have been kept in prison for almost 10 months rather than being allowed out on bail.

"They have been tried under conditions which are normally reserved for terrorists and dangerous criminals.

"These people absolutely represented no threat to the public.

"The presumption of innocence, which is a basic right of people who were on trial, has been discarded by the German legal system, and that this is a show trial. It's a political trial where they are not actually receiving justice."

Sinn Fein MEP Lynn Boylan said the trial was a charade to protect Israel.

"We're seeing a trampling of fundamental rights," she said.

"It's the failure of member states right across the EU to take action, which has led people to getting on boats and putting their lives in risk and going on flotillas, and likewise has led to the actions of the Ulm Five.

"They felt they had no alternative but to try and prevent weapons from going to aid and abet the genocide that Israel is carrying out on the Palestinian people.

"This is definitely a show trial, and I will bring that message back to the European Parliament that we are paying a huge price across the European Union. Our citizens are paying a huge price, nothing compared to what the Palestinians are paying.

"We are trashing international law, and for what? To defend Israel. And we have to ask why is that allowed to happen within the European Union? And I will be calling on other members of the European Parliament to come to join us for the next trial date and to observe with their own eyes how EU citizens' rights are being trashed, all in the defense of international law."

The Irish government has not sent a legal observer to watch the trial, despite multiple calls to do so.