Politicians express concern about fair trial for Dublin man in Germany
Vivienne Clarke
Labour TD Duncan Smith has expressed grave concerns about the right to a fair trial and due process for 32-year-old Dubliner Daniel Tatlow-Devally and four Berlin-based activists charged with trespassing and an estimated €1 million in criminal damage to an Israeli-owned arms factory in Ulm.
Smith and a number of TDs and Senators are travelling to Stuttgart for the trial.
“We're travelling because we have grave concerns about the right to a fair trial and due process for this group, including Daniel, by the German authorities,” he told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland.
“This is a matter we've raised in the Dáil through parliamentary questions over a number of months. Myself and Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett met the German ambassador a number of months ago to raise our concerns.
“And fundamentally, we believe the Irish government needs to be sending legal observers to this trial. It's something they have not agreed to, to this point. So we're going to raise that awareness.
“This trial has made international headlines, international concern, and it's something that we believe very strongly, and that's why we're travelling today. Daniel has been held in 23-hour solitary confinement with surveillance of all visits and correspondence for almost eight months.”
Smith said he had raised concerns about Tatlow-Devally’s incarceration and the fact that he's entitled to only two half-hour visits a month, which are behind glass, and he had limited access to reading and other materials.
“We raised all these concerns with the ambassador. The ambassador communicated our concerns to his government, and we received a written response a number of weeks later to indicate that from the German state's perspective, this trial and how these defendants were being held was fair, and that due process was going to take place again.
"This is something we refute strongly.
“So while it was a very professional and indeed frank exchange with the ambassador, and we were aware of the limits of what the ambassador could do, it didn't change or move the dial at all.
"This trial is moving forward. It is very different to how a trial would be carried out in Ireland.
“It doesn't take place on consecutive days. It's planned that this could go on until January, and if these conditions remain, it'll mean we have an Irish citizen who's 23 hours in solitary confinement, and the other elements of his detention being carried out. And the fact that this is happening in an EU member state, a partner country, I find absolutely incredible.”
Smith said that Tatlow-Duvally and his colleagues were not a threat to humans.
“They're not charged with any threat to human life or anything of the sort. They've been charged with criminal damage. But they're being treated as if they are arch-terrorists.
"The trial itself is taking place in a building where historically there were trials for terrorist groups back in the 70s.
“So this has all the hallmarks of a show trial. It's going to set a dramatic and very dangerous precedent. And it marks a big difference with how Germany are treating activists who have been protesting and engaging in acts of civil disobedience against the genocide in Gaza versus other European nation states.
“So we can't sit idly by. Part of our delegation will be visiting Daniel in prison. There are limited numbers that could do that. All of us will be attending the trial itself as observers.
"We have huge concerns about the reporting of the trial and the translation of the trial. There are no independent stenographers allowed.
“The defence aren't allowed independent stenographers. There are huge concerns. Amnesty International has raised concerns about this as well as other international human rights groups.”
