Inside the Alaa M. Trial #87: Déjà Vu
Higher Regional Court – Frankfurt, Germany
Trial Monitoring Summary #87
Hearing Date: October 31, 2024
CAUTION: Some testimony includes descriptions of torture.
Note that this summary is not a verbatim transcript of the trial; it is merely an unofficial summary of the proceedings.
Throughout this summary, [information located in brackets are notes from our trial monitor] and “information placed in quotes are statements made by the witness, Judges or counsel.” The names and identifying information of witnesses have been redacted.
[Note: SJAC continues to provide a summary of the proceedings while redacting certain details to protect witness privacy and to preserve the integrity of the trial.]
SJAC’s 87th trial monitoring report details day 156 of the trial of Alaa M. in Frankfurt, Germany. On this trial day, Mr. Christian Knappmann, a criminal investigator from the German Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), appeared again as a witness before the Court. Mr. Knappmann conducted the police questioning with P36 and the Judges asked him about its details. Knappmann’s testimony was like a miniature version of P36’s testimony, as the Judges’ questions were almost identical to those they asked P36 and Knappmann’s answers were similar to the ones P36 had provided in court.
Day 156 – October 31, 2024
In this week's only court hearing, Mr. Christian Knappmann, a criminal investigator at the German Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), appeared before the Court to testify about the police questioning that he conducted with P36. Upon questioning about administrative issues of the police questioning, Mr. Knappmann explained that the questioning took place in the presence of fellow officer, Mr. Kurenbach, and interpreter, Ms. Schöber. He further explained that the questioning included multiple breaks for the witness.
The Judges then asked him about the content of the questioning. Knappmann recalled what P36 had stated to the police and nearly repeated what P36 testified in court. [Note: For more details regarding P36’s testimony, see Trial Report #72]. The Judges displayed a satellite image of Al-Mazzeh Military Hospital which Knappmann had shown to P36 during his police questioning. Knappmann presented his recollections of P36’s explanation of that image during the police questioning. Overall, Mr. Knappmann’s testimony was like a miniature version of P36’s testimony: The Judges reiterated the same questions and Knappmann provided the same answers noted down in the police transcript.
The Judges were interested in the fact that P36 made many hand-written edits on the printed transcript after the police questioning had concluded and handed him a copy. They displayed the police transcript on screen in court and skimmed over a few examples of such edits. Furthermore, Knappmann recalled having shown several documents to P36, including a photo of Alaa M. whom P36 identified. At his request, Knappmann added, P36 provided the police with names of colleagues who worked together with him and the Accused at Al-Mazzeh Military Hospital. The list, which was written in Arabic and German, included the following names and the German states where these colleagues lived. [Note: the list was redacted to protect the individuals. However, four of them testified as witnesses at this point.]
After the Judges concluded their questioning, only the Defense Team had a handful of questions for Mr. Knappmann which, like the Judge’s questions, did not bring anything new to light. The Defense Counsel finalized their questioning by asking whether there were any side conversations with P36 either before, during, or after the questioning, besides those recorded in the police transcript. Knappmann denied having had such conversations, apart from greeting the witness when he arrived prior to the questioning.
Since there were no further questions for the witness, the Judge thanked Mr. Knappmann and dismissed him after noting that the Judges may summon him again later.
The proceedings were adjourned at 11:53PM.
The next trial day will be on November 5, 2024, at 10AM.
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