Court case | Defendant in the Antifa East trial is dead

Protest in front of the courthouse against the Dresden Antifa East trial Photo: dpa/Sebastian Kahnert Another day of proceedings in the Antifa East trial before the Dresden Higher Regional Court will take place this Tuesday; More than 60 have been completed since the mammoth process began almost a year ago. Initially, proceedings were held against seven anti-fascists who are accused of attacking actual or suspected right-wing extremists and forming a criminal organization. At the beginning of September, the case against one of the defendants, 38-year-old Henry A., was separated. This was preceded by several suicide attempts. After the last one, A. lay unresponsive in the hospital. Now the Antifa Ost solidarity alliance announced that A. died this Saturday.

The death of the anti-fascist gives weight to serious allegations that supporters are making against the Dresden court and the investigative authorities. The solidarity alliance declared at the end of September, after A. was hit by an S-Bahn in Leipzig, that the court was "complicit in the current escalation." The Rote Hilfe attested to the Senate's "irresponsible behavior"; Its board member Hartmut Brückner even spoke of an “inhumane approach by the Higher Regional Court” that had “consciously” endangered a mentally unstable person.

The MDR reported that the Berlin lawyer Felix Isensee, who defended A. in the ongoing proceedings, had already accused the State Security Senate and in particular its chairman of shared responsibility for his client's health condition weeks ago and is now sticking to this accusation even after his client's death.

A. was in the dock in the ongoing proceedings because of relatively minor allegations. The federal prosecutor's office accused him of having kept the key to a "deposit of crime funds." He is also said to have been involved in an attack on right-wing extremists at Wurzen train station in February 2020.

His defense attorneys had repeatedly called for the case against him to be separated, citing his mental state. A. had already attempted suicide before the trial began. According to the solidarity alliance, he was “extremely dangerous to himself and others.” He was hospitalized several times.

"When Henry was charged in the Antifa East trial in 2025, there were already more than twelve years of state investigations behind him."

The court, however, insisted on attendance on each of the numerous days of the trial and refused to allow people to leave the courtroom early in order to receive therapeutic treatment, as well as a longer break in the trial recommended by a doctor in the summer. The Higher Regional Court had hindered A.'s healing process, criticized Rote Hilfe. On August 12th, on the instructions of the court, A. was even brought in by police officers from a closed psychiatric facility to which he had been admitted for his own protection and that of others. According to the solidarity alliance, “forcing” him to take part in the process regardless of this condition was “inhumane.” Three days later the serious accident occurred, as a result of which A. died.

The trial observer and author Thomas Meyer-Falk points out a much longer history on his blog "Break down the Walls": "When Henry was finally charged in the Antifa East trial in 2025, there were already more than twelve years of state investigations behind him." Since 2013, he had been the focus of investigations that were directed against the fan scene of the BSG Chemie Leipzig football club and which also involved the formation of a criminal organization.

A. was on the supervisory board from 2011 and on the board of the association from 2012 to 2015; He had “done a lot of service to chemistry and played a key role in shaping the positive development of the club,” the club now explained in an obituary. Parallel to his commitment, he was observed by the Saxon security authorities, his telephones were tapped, and there were repeated house searches, sometimes lasting hours. In 2016 the proceedings were discontinued without any result. Meyer-Falk notes that the Saxon State Commissioner for Data Protection later criticized the actions of the State Criminal Police Office and the public prosecutor's office.

This did not alleviate the consequences for those affected. The Red Aid emphasizes that such persecution measures have a “destructive effect” on people, their social relationships and their professional lives. For some of those affected, the reprisals led to a “feeling of powerlessness and being at the mercy of others, even to the point of wanting to die rather than have to endure it any longer.” Federal Executive Board member Brückner spoke of a “hunt” by state bodies for anti-fascists. “Deaths are obviously accepted with approval.”

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