A nearly four-fold increase in terrorism-related cases is stretching the manpower of federal prosecutors. So far this year nearly 900 terrorism cases have been opened.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/S. Pförtner
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German federal prosecutors have opened up more than 900 terrorism-related cases so far this year, including 800 related to radical Islamists, according to a report published in the German language nespaper Welt am Sonntag on Sunday.
The number of terrorism cases has jumped nearly four-fold compared to last year, when federal prosecutors opened about 250 proceedings. In 2013, there were about 80 terrorism cases in the courts.
The sharp rise has stretched manpower at the Karlsruhe-based federal prosecutors office, the newspaper reported. Nearly 300 terrorism cases have been transferred from federal authorities to state prosecutors.
Germany's biggest Islamist trials
The attempted bomb attack at the Bonn train station in 2012 led to one of the highest-profile terror trials in Germany. Here's a look at some other major trials involving Islamist extremists in Germany.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/B. Marks
Failed Bonn bomb
The blue bag left on the platform at Bonn's central station in 2012 contained explosives that did not go off, but a city-wide manhunt unfolded. Marco G. was eventually arrested and charged with planting the bomb. Three others are charged with plotting to assassinate a politician from the far-right PRO-NRW party. Their group allegedly drew inspration from an Islamist movement in Uzbekistan.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Frankfurt airport bus attack
In March 2011, Arid Uka shot dead two US servicemen waiting for a bus at Frankfurt airport prior to deployment in Afghanistan. "This is indeed the first Islamic-motivated terror strike to have happened in Germany," the judge said, adding Uka had sought revenge for military operations in Afghanistan. Uka, born in Kosovo, acted alone and was sentenced to life in prison in February 2012.
Image: AP
The Sauerland Cell
The "Sauerland Cell" was a German cell of the Islamic Jihad Union (IJU), a terrorist group on the Pakistani-Afghan border. The four German and Turkish men had planned large-scale bomb attacks against American targets in Germany from their base in the western region of the Sauerland. Arrested in September 2007, they were sentenced in March 2010 for up to 12 years.
Image: AP
Sharia Police
Sven Lau, a Salafist Muslim, was the man behind a well-known Islamist publicity stunt. In 2014, Lau led several men around the city of Wuppertal in orange security vests labeled "Sharia police." Acting as state authorities, they warned people visiting local clubs and bars to adhere to Sharia, or Islamic law. He is currently on trial for backing a terror group fighting in Syria.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Bildfunk/M. Becker
Big mouth
Nils D., a Salafist from Dinslaken, joined the "Islamic State" in Syria in October 2013. He tracked down the group's deserters - armed with explosives and guns. He returned to Germany a year later, and boastful statements about his time in Syria eventually got him arrested. He confessed the names of other German Islamic extremists and was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in jail.
Image: DW/M. Gopalakrishnan
"Biggest mistake of my life"
On the final day of Harry S.'s July 2016 trial, he said "going to Syria was the biggest mistake of my life." The Bremen-born Muslim convert spent three months with "Islamic State" in Syria in 2015. He wanted out after civilians were murdered for a short recruitment film he helped make. He was sentenced to three years in jail for being part of a foreign terrorist organization.
According to a Der Spiegel German newspaper report from earlier this year, Federal Attorney General Peter Frank requested state justice ministers send prosecutors and judges to help overburdened federal courts.
Cases do not necessarily relate to German attack plans
Not all of the current terrorism cases in the system deal with actual plans to carry out attacks in Germany.
Refugees from Syria, Afghanistan or Iraq who fought for the "Islamic State" (IS) or other radical groups may also be tried for membership in an international terrorist group without planning attacks in Germany.
In addition, the Federal Criminal Police Office estimates nearly 700 people in Germany are Gefährder (loosely translated as dangerous,) or radical Islamists who represent a security risk and are capable of carrying out violent attacks.
There is also concern in security circles that German nationals who went to fight in Syria or Iraq may return home and present a threat to security.
