31st day of trial part 2 against the 6 accused anti-fascists in the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court

At the beginning, a request from the defense to postpone the hearing due to incorrect translations of Hungarian files failed. The witnesses are connected via video from a Budapest court. Orsolya Fabian quickly makes it clear where the journey would go: When asked simply which concert she had attended before the attack, she did not answer for several minutes. Instead, she repeats like a mantra that it was a “public” and “legal” event.

An example conversation from the following hours:

Presiding Judge Bachler: “Which pub did you visit?”
Fabian: "That was a public bar, a legal location in the 11th district. I would like to emphasize that I am not the accused, but the injured party."

Bachler: "That wasn't an answer. The file says there was a concert, which one?"

Fabian: "That was a public, legal concert by Swiss and Hungarians. It wasn't a closed event, but legal. I didn't plan any crimes there and didn't commit any crimes afterwards."

Bachler: “Perhaps it’s part of it to know which concert it was. Without judging it.”

Fabian: "A public one. It's obvious that this doesn't agree with your taste, but I wanted to go and didn't hurt anyone."

Even the judge's request: "I suggest that you answer my questions" did not change this.

Was the concert organized by Blood & Honor? Don't know them. She wasn't interested.

Even during the actual crime, her statement becomes increasingly surreal. Contradictions with their previous statements, with witnesses and with objectively verifiable facts are piling up every minute.

Shortly after the attack, she stated that she had already been sprayed with a liquid at the beginning. Now she firmly denies this. Instead, it only wants to be at the end and has to be doused with solvent or glue. At some point, an alleged loss of consciousness turns into: “maybe I just had my eyes closed.” The punches initially described were probably blows with objects, but she never saw them, but felt them.

A new addition is an alleged stab wound, which she pointed out in the hospital, but which was not treated there, so it does not appear in the files. Instead, Fabian later claims to have visited a weapons expert who undoubtedly attributed the wound to a palm stick. Anyone who wanted to hold on to the credibility of the statement until then would need a lot of imagination at this point.

She explains the contradictions by saying that today, over 3 years later, she sees everything much more clearly, as she was still confused by the attack back then.

In keeping with this, she reports on a mysterious witness with a dog who is said to have seen ten attackers, including several women, and a canister full of solvents. Only: The police were never able to locate this witness. Apparently Fabian himself suspects how unbelievable her story sounds, since all other witnesses did not confirm these statements. She repeatedly emphasizes without being asked that she “doesn’t make any false statements.”

Around 45 minutes after the questioning began, there was another commotion in the room: it was about Dudog. Fabian goes out of his way to emphasize that he was “very, very seriously injured.”

When asked whether Fabian and Dudog knew each other before the day of honor in 2022, the interpreter suddenly speaks up. Visibly irritated, she explains that she has the impression that Fabian is colluding with Dudog during her statement. It was easy to see, even for legal laypeople in the audience, that this had little to do with an uninfluenced hearing of witnesses.

When asked, Fabian explained that Dudog had only been in the room for five to ten minutes, regardless of the fact that she was telling the truth. Before the interrogation began, however, it had already been announced that he would “be there in ten minutes.”

Now the presiding judge Bachler intervenes and asks the Hungarian judge to send Dudog out of the room. He complies with the request, but at the same time explains that he doesn't see the problem anyway. After all, Fabian was wearing headphones and couldn't hear Dudog's questions. The idea that it is not the questions but the answers that follow them that could represent the problem of influencing witnesses does not seem to have reached Budapest at this moment. That's not enough for the defense. She asks if at least the door was closed. Answer: No. Only then will it be closed, according to the judge.

Bachler comments dryly: “I’m almost tempted to let him look under the table.” It would be hard to sum up more accurately how seriously securing unbiased testimony was taken that afternoon.

After a break in the negotiations, all those involved in the proceedings decided to also introduce Fabian's police interrogation from February 2023 into the proceedings. This is how the completely unbelievable statement of the witness and the incident described are reacted in court.

However, the defense still has further questions for Fabian about Dudog's past. Fabian only remembers his membership in well-known right-wing extremist bands when the defense tells her the names. Fabian continues to answer with half novels. In the middle of the interrogation, she thinks she has a “final word” as a witness, but the defense interrupts her.

In addition to a Ku Klux Clan tattoo, Dudog has an 88 tattoo with a wreath of honor on his chest. Fabian's explanation for this should go down in the chronicle of creative protective claims: Of course, the number does not represent the well-known neo-Nazi code, but simply the date of birth of his illegitimate child.

Fabian is released at 2:30 p.m. One could almost think that the interrogation was less intended to dispel doubts than to reinforce one or another person watching in their political stance.

In order to be able to interview Dudog today, the lunch break is skipped. Dudog also follows up the impression his partner left almost seamlessly. Although he occasionally answered the questions asked, this does not make his statements any more credible.

He could no longer remember the attack itself. After the crime, he felt uncomfortable for months when someone walked behind him. He broke his cheekbone and a Hungarian expert also confirmed that he may have permanent paralysis.

Dudog also has a hard time describing the Blood&Honor concert that they both attended - even though he had performed there himself the previous year. It was a rock concert. Also to remember. When asked what should be remembered, he said: "I don't know, it was a public concert." He is asked about his clothes. The embroidered SS skull on his knitted hat is “a normal skull, freely available for sale”.

First of all, he can't think of any right-wing extremist band that he has played in in recent years. The defense has to help him out. In the right-wing extremist bands Divine Hate and Divizio Hungária, he only ever helped out when asked. However, he would not have received any money for this, but would have helped out “as a favor”. He tries to minimize his membership there as much as possible. He also does studio recordings with them. The press also made a connection between him and the band Divízió 88, but this was false information.

He himself is also asked about his 88 tattoo surrounded by a cross of honor. The answer sounds surprisingly literal: "Yes, I know what you're thinking about. That's a coincidence. That's the birth date of my illegitimate child."

Dudog explains that he was invited to the concert. He doesn't want to say from whom. When the defense points out to him that he is obliged to testify, he suddenly changes his story: he saw the event on Facebook. He has now “dropped out of the matter”. When asked several times, he specified that this meant “right-wing things”.

Dudog denies even obvious facts. So he explains that he is sure that he has never posed in front of a Blood & Honor flag. If you want to convince yourself that this is a lie, you can take the photo on the website of the BASC comrades (link).

At the end of the survey, a picture of Dudog is shown again on the Day of Honor 2023, in front of the said bar and with the same SS skull cap, after which Dudog is released.

The defense explains that the witnesses obviously testified with one purpose in mind: to increase the sentences for the 6 anti-fascists as high as possible. She lied on several points; one could not separate where there was a desire to persecute and punish and where there was an effort to provide a truthful statement. With Fabian in particular, looking at the Hungarian police's interrogation protocol, which was around one page long, it was "breathtaking how many contradictions" there were. In essential parts their own statements do not agree. What she says cannot be used as the basis for a conviction.

Anyone who wanted to claim after this day of negotiations that the defense's concerns about the Hungarian online interrogations were simply a trial strategy would have had to have ignored significant parts of the afternoon. Between conflicting witnesses who didn't want to give answers to some questions, obviously agreed-upon answers, and a Hungarian judge who didn't want to see anything problematic about it, the right to due process at times seemed more like a loose recommendation than a binding requirement.

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