A German court’s decision has been upheld in a high-stakes case involving a woman accused of being a left-wing extremist. The Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof) has confirmed the majority of the verdict of the Dresden Higher Regional Court (Oberlandesgericht Dresden), which had sentenced the defendant, Lina E. and three co-defendants to prison terms in May 2023.
The Higher Regional Court had found E. and the three men guilty of membership in a criminal organization and dangerous bodily harm, among other crimes and sentenced her to five years and three months in prison. The General Public Prosecutor (Generalbundesanwalt) had appealed the verdict, arguing that the acquittal on one count and the overall sentence were in error.
The defendant, on the other hand, had appealed her conviction, claiming a violation of substantive law. The Federal Court of Justice has now ruled that the relationship between the individual actions of the defendant must be re-evaluated, but has allowed the overall prison sentence of five years and three months to stand.
The original case revolved around a series of assaults, with the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office accusing the defendants of committing a string of attacks on neo-Nazis between 2018 and 2020 in the cities of Wurzen, Leipzig-Connewitz and Eisenach in Thuringia.
E. is alleged to have joined the left-wing extremist group, which was founded in and around Leipzig, in August 2018 and held a “prominent position” within the organization. She had been in pre-trial detention for over two years prior to the court’s decision in May 2023 and the arrest warrant was subsequently lifted.
The case is now closed, with the Federal Court of Justice’s decision of March 19, 2025, being the final ruling (Urteil vom 19. März 2025 – 3 StR 173/24).