A former German soldier has been sentenced to jail for plotting a far-right attack on senior politicians while posing as a Syrian refugee.
Franco Albrecht, 33, was sentenced to five and a half years in prison for “planning a serious act of violence endangering the state” presiding judge Christoph Koller said.
The trial shone a spotlight on neo-Nazi sympathies in the ranks of the German military and the effectiveness of the security services in standing up to right-wing extremism, which is described by the interior ministry as the biggest threat facing the country.
The court heard Albrecht, a father of three, planned the attack while posing as a refugee. Prosecutors backed away from allegations that he hoped to pin his atrocity on Syrians.
Then-justice minister Heiko Maas and a former parliament vice-president, Claudia Roth, were considered to be among his possible targets, the court in Frankfurt heard.
Albrecht, who has a full beard and wears his long hair tied in a ponytail, told the court he deceived authorities at the height of the 2015-16 migrant influx, in which more than one million asylum seekers entered Germany.
Albrecht darkened his skin with make-up to pose as a penniless refugee Christian fruit seller from Damascus called David Benjamin, and for 15 months he hoodwinked immigration officials, despite speaking no Arabic.
“Neither Arabic nor details about my story were necessary,” Albrecht testified, describing his conversations with immigration authorities.
Albrecht, the son of a German mother and an estranged Italian immigrant father, was arrested in 2017 while trying to retrieve a Nazi-era pistol he had hidden in a toilet at Vienna's international airport, and his fraud was discovered when his fingerprints matched two separate identities.
The court found that Albrecht planned to use the pistol and other weapons and explosives he had taken from the German army for an attack.
Soon after his arrest, then defence minister Ursula von der Leyen said Albrecht's case pointed to a much larger “attitude problem” in the German military.
Her successor Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer ordered the partial dissolution of the KSK commando force in 2020 after revelations that some of its members harboured neo-Nazi sympathies.
Albrecht, who repeatedly expressed anti-Semitic, racist and hardline nationalist views before the court during his trial, testified that then-chancellor Angela Merkel had failed to uphold the constitution by welcoming the refugees.
His lawyers had called for a suspended sentence based solely on weapons law violations.
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The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
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Milestones on the road to union
1970
October 26: Bahrain withdraws from a proposal to create a federation of nine with the seven Trucial States and Qatar.
December: Ahmed Al Suwaidi visits New York to discuss potential UN membership.
1971
March 1: Alex Douglas Hume, Conservative foreign secretary confirms that Britain will leave the Gulf and “strongly supports” the creation of a Union of Arab Emirates.
July 12: Historic meeting at which Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid make a binding agreement to create what will become the UAE.
July 18: It is announced that the UAE will be formed from six emirates, with a proposed constitution signed. RAK is not yet part of the agreement.
August 6: The fifth anniversary of Sheikh Zayed becoming Ruler of Abu Dhabi, with official celebrations deferred until later in the year.
August 15: Bahrain becomes independent.
September 3: Qatar becomes independent.
November 23-25: Meeting with Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and senior British officials to fix December 2 as date of creation of the UAE.
November 29: At 5.30pm Iranian forces seize the Greater and Lesser Tunbs by force.
November 30: Despite a power sharing agreement, Tehran takes full control of Abu Musa.
November 31: UK officials visit all six participating Emirates to formally end the Trucial States treaties
December 2: 11am, Dubai. New Supreme Council formally elects Sheikh Zayed as President. Treaty of Friendship signed with the UK. 11.30am. Flag raising ceremony at Union House and Al Manhal Palace in Abu Dhabi witnessed by Sheikh Khalifa, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
December 6: Arab League formally admits the UAE. The first British Ambassador presents his credentials to Sheikh Zayed.
December 9: UAE joins the United Nations.
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JAPANESE GRAND PRIX INFO
Schedule (All times UAE)
First practice: Friday, 5-6.30am
Second practice: Friday, 9-10.30am
Third practice: Saturday, 7-8am
Qualifying: Saturday, 10-11am
Race: Sunday, 9am-midday
Race venue: Suzuka International Racing Course
Circuit Length: 5.807km
Number of Laps: 53
Watch live: beIN Sports HD
Libya's Gold
UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves.
The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.
Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.
