Unlike the defense attorneys of the accused Ukrainian man, the judges see no signs of an unfair trial. An expert witness explains how the massive explosions could have occurred.
The Hamburg trial against one of the alleged perpetrators of the attack on the Nord Stream Baltic Sea pipeline will continue. The Higher Regional Court of Hamburg rejected a defense motion to dismiss the case on Tuesday. “Under German law, the defendant is not restricted in his defense,” presiding judge Anne Meier-Göring stated in her reasoning.
The accused Ukrainian ex-officer Serhiy Kuznetsov is alleged to have led a secret commando operation with seven Ukrainians in September 2022, during which the two Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines between Russia and Germany in the Baltic Sea were blown up. He is accused of committing a war crime by attacking civilian infrastructure. The trial in Hamburg has been underway since mid-October.
The defense had requested that the proceedings be dismissed, arguing that the defendant, as a former officer in a Ukrainian special forces unit, was subject to a duty of secrecy, even after leaving the armed forces. Therefore, a fair trial was impossible.
Two sworn statements from his former superiors were read aloud in court. Both stated that they would not release Kuznetsov from his duty of confidentiality and that he faced up to eight years in prison in Ukraine for treason .
However, the court followed the arguments of the Federal Prosecutor’s Office. Their representative, Stefan Schmidt, stated that the defendant’s right to an effective defense, enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights, had not been violated. There was no evidence that the defendant was actually subject to a duty of confidentiality.
The two Ukrainian superiors are the “masterminds” behind the Nord Stream attack. Therefore, there are “considerable doubts” about the credibility of their explanations
Hamburg. The Hamburg trial against one of the alleged perpetrators of the attack on the Nord Stream Baltic Sea pipeline will continue.
The Higher Regional Court of Hamburg rejected a defense motion to dismiss the case on Tuesday. “Under German law, the defendant is not restricted in his defense,” presiding judge Anne Meier-Göring stated in her reasoning.
The accused Ukrainian ex-officer Serhiy Kuznetsov is alleged to have led a secret commando operation with seven Ukrainians in September 2022, during which the two Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines between Russia and Germany in the Baltic Sea were blown up.
He is accused of committing a war crime by attacking civilian infrastructure. The trial in Hamburg has been underway since mid-October.
The defense had requested that the proceedings be dismissed, arguing that the defendant, as a former officer in a Ukrainian special forces unit, was subject to a duty of secrecy, even after leaving the armed forces. Therefore, a fair trial was impossible.
Two sworn statements from his former superiors were read aloud in court. Both stated that they would not release Kuznetsov from his duty of confidentiality and that he faced up to eight years in prison in Ukraine for treason .
However, the court followed the arguments of the Federal Prosecutor’s Office. Their representative, Stefan Schmidt, stated that the defendant’s right to an effective defense, enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights, had not been violated. There was no evidence that the defendant was actually subject to a duty of confidentiality.
The two Ukrainian superiors are the “masterminds” behind the Nord Stream attack. Therefore, there are “considerable doubts” about the credibility of their explanations.
Judge Meier-Göring stated that the trial did not violate the principle of a fair trial. She acknowledged doubts about the private statements of the two superiors who may have been involved. If the situation were as the defense claimed, any defendant from another country could invoke their duty of confidentiality, for example, in cases of espionage. She emphasized that, according to German law, Kuznetsov was entitled to testify. He himself had the power to “relieve the alleged executive tension.”
Following the decision regarding the further proceedings, the judge called upon expert witness Thomas Forster from the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA). He had written the initial crime scene report in the fall of 2022 and was now to provide an “assessment of the impact.” Using a PowerPoint presentation, he described what had happened on September 26, 2022, near the Danish island of Bornholm.
At 2:03 a.m., the first explosion occurred at the Nord Stream 2 pipeline at a depth of 77 meters. The explosive device tore a hole in strand A, from which gas escaped into the pipeline. Strand B was only externally damaged; there was no leak.
