Bomb plot suspects in Germany confess: lawyers

By Matthias Inverardi
DUESSELDORF, Germany (Reuters) - Four Islamic militants standing trial for planning big bomb attacks on U.S. targets in Germany have confessed to the charges, defense lawyers said on Thursday.
The planned attacks were designed to be as destructive as the September 11, 2001 strikes in the United States, prosecutors said, adding that the defendants had identified bars, discos and the U.S. Ramstein air base as possible targets.
Johannes Pausch, the lawyer representing defendant Daniel Schneider, said all four militants were making confessions.
"My client is currently doing so; yesterday, today and tomorrow at the Federal Crime Office," he told Reuters."The others are also in the process of doing so. The whole thing should be concluded this week."
The charges against the four men include preparing bomb attacks and being members of a terrorist organization. If convicted, they face up to 15 years in jail. Lawyer Pausch said his client was hoping to get a reduced sentence by confessing.
Two defendants, Schneider and Fritz Gelowicz, are German converts to Islam, while Atilla Selek is a German citizen of Turkish origin, and Adem Yilmaz is a Turkish citizen.
Schneider would plead guilty in court to planning the attacks, Pausch said.
WELL-ADVANCED
Police have said the militants were well-advanced in their preparations for the attacks that could have killed more than 50 people, making it the worst attack of its kind in post-war German history.
Ricarda Lang, the lawyer representing defendant Yilmaz, said her client had decided to confess because of the psychological strain of the court proceedings.
"He is intellectually overtaxed and his main priority is to end the trial as soon as possible," she said.
Gelowicz's lawyer also said his client was confessing. Selek's lawyer could not be reached for comment.
German investigators began monitoring the group in early 2007 and arrested it on September 4 that year.
Investigators believe the defendants were aiming to time their planned car bomb attacks to coincide with a vote in parliament on whether Germany should extend its military presence in Afghanistan.
The Afghanistan mission in controversial amongst German voters and authorities believe the suspects wanted to influence public opinion against the mission.
(Additional reporting by Sarah Marsh and Dave Graham)

Source: Reuters