A Berlin court sentenced three men to jail Friday after convicting them of attempted arson and membership in a criminal gang. The three were accused of setting fire to several army trucks in 2007. The trucks had been extinguished before they could cause any damage.

Two men, aged 37 and 48, were sentenced to three-and-a-half years, and a third, 37 was handed a three-year sentence. All have been released on bail pending an appeal. They had been arrested just after trying to use slow-burn barbecue lighters to set the parked trucks on fire.

The men were members of a far-left organization called the Militant Groups, or "mg," which advocated for the establishment of a communist world order. The mg had claimed responsibility for 25 arson attacks between 2001 and 2007. Prosecutors said those attacks caused 840,000 euros ($1.1 million) in damage.

Several weeks ago, mg posted an online statement indicating that it would disband. Presiding judge Josef Hoch called it a stunt directed at getting the defendants acquitted.

Germany's High Court has ruled that they could not be considered a terrorist group and so cannot be prosecuted using special anti-terror measures.

svs/dpa/AFP/dw
Editor: Neil King