Dresden Antifa trial: death of a defendant

On August 12th, Henry A. sat in the dock for the last time in the Dresden Higher Regional Court. Police officers had brought him into the room directly from the closed ward of a psychiatric hospital. The 38-year-old made his last suicide attempt on August 15th and has been in a coma ever since. He died as a result on Saturday night.

A.'s lawyer is now making allegations against the judicial authorities. “The court has a duty of care towards the defendants in criminal proceedings, which was disregarded here,” Felix Isensee on Sunday of the taz. His client was obviously in an exceptional psychological situation, which led to him being forced into custody.

A. was accused in the second major trial against alleged members of the so-called Antifa Ost, which is accused of attacks on right-wing extremists. The trial against the Leipzig man and six other accused began in November 2025. The public prosecutor's office accused him personally of taking part in an attack on neo-Nazis in Wurzen.

Long before the trial, Henry A. was apparently seriously mentally ill. According to his lawyers, he attempted suicide before the first day of the trial. The court nevertheless rejected an initial request from the defense to separate his case because most of the allegations in the extensive proceedings did not concern him. A. had to shorten the therapy he had started during this time.

As the taz reported in September, the defendant's health continued to deteriorate during the course of the proceedings. In mid-July he was admitted to a closed ward and made another suicide attempt a week later. According to the lawyers, his treating doctor recommended a three-month break in the negotiations. However, the court rejected this on the recommendation of a specially commissioned expert.

After the death of a close family member, the next suicide attempt followed and another hospitalization. The defense again requested that his trial be separated. And again the court refused. According to the lawyers, their client was under the influence of strong sedatives during his last day of trial. They requested a new report on their fitness to stand trial, but the court initially postponed this request. It was only at the beginning of September that it decided to separate its proceedings from the trial. Henry A. had already been in a coma for more than two weeks.

“Our repeated request to be removed from the proceedings should have been granted at this point in time at the latest for ethical reasons,” said lawyer Isensse. Instead, the court insisted on the “presence of the defendant, who was sedated with psychotropic drugs,” at the hearing, for which A. was taken from the clinic to Dresden. “There was clearly a risk of another suicide attempt,” Isensee continued.

Years before the “Antifa Ost” investigations, A. was exposed to considerable repression from the Saxon authorities. As a supporter and at times also an official of the regional football league team BSG Chemie Leipzig, extensive investigations were already underway against him in the 2010s: together with other left-wing Chemie fans, the accusation at the time was that he had formed a criminal organization and attacked right-wing fans of local rivals Lok Leipzig. Despite massive and sometimes illegal surveillance measures, investigators found no evidence. The proceedings were discontinued.

In April 2021, new investigations and an apartment search against A followed, again because of an alleged attack on locomotive fans. A day later, the right-wing extremist online magazine Compact reported on internal investigations. Henry A. then spoke to the taz about a “year-long campaign” against himself. “The fact that the LKA is now apparently making a pact with the right-wing Compact is unbelievable.”

Because of the betrayal of official secrets, the public prosecutor's office now also had the police investigated. A.'s lawyer provided the authorities with evidence against a specific official. Shortly afterwards, the next house search at Henry A. followed - as "revenge", as he suspected. However, the investigation against the officer was later discontinued because he was proven innocent: According to the public prosecutor, Compact had not received the information from him, but from a “person close to Henry A.”.

The news of his death was first reported by his football club this weekend. A. had “done a lot of service” to the club during his time as an official, wrote BSG Chemie in an obituary on its website. "Our thoughts are with his family and loved ones. Rest in peace, Henry."

Do you have suicidal thoughts? Then you should seek medical and psychotherapeutic help immediately. Please contact the nearest psychiatric clinic or, in acute cases, call the emergency number on 112. You can find a list of further offers at taz.de/suicidethoughts