Mother of pro-Palestine activist urges Government to send observer to his trial in Germany

Mimi Tatlow-Golden, mother of Daniel Tatlow-Devally, who has who has spent a year in pre-trial detention in Germany.

The mother of a pro-Palestine protester from Dublin who is on trial in Germany has said it is impossible for the Irish government to follow proceedings closely without sending an observer.

Concerns have been raised, including by a government TD who is a barrister, about the detention of Daniel Tatlow-Devally and the trial process in Stuttgart Stammheim.

Tatlow-Devally, 32, is one of the "Ulm 5" group; five Berlin-based activists who have been held in pre-trial detention since last year.

German prosecutors say he was part of a group who trespassed onto a site owned by Israel’s Elbit Systems last September in the southern city of Ulm, shouting pro-Palestinian slogans as equipment was destroyed. They are accused of causing about €1m in damage.

Concerns have been raised by a cross-party delegation of Irish parliamentarians who attended court proceedings in July.

Some called the proceedings a “show trial”, while Government TD Barry Ward, who represents the constituency Tatlow-Devally is from and who is a barrister, wrote to foreign affairs minister Helen McEntee saying that it would be “very helpful” to send an independent observer to the trial.

The lack of transcripts of court proceedings, which is not an uncommon practice in Germany, has also been raised as an issue.

Daniel’s mother Mimi Tatlow-Golden said that the Irish government cannot continue to claim that they are monitoring the trial “very closely” and keeping a “very close eye”, as Ms McEntee told the Dáil.

She said no representatives of the Irish embassy or consulate were at court on Friday.

“The government says to us they’re keeping direct oversight or a close eye on the trial, the minister has said that many times — that is a factual impossibility,” she told the Irish Examiner.

“They’re not sending anyone, there’s next to no media reporting, there’s no transcripts, and there’s no formal defence notetaker allowed at this trial. So there is no way for them to know what is going on.” 

Daniel Tatlow-Devally is one of the 'Ulm 5' group; five Berlin-based activists who have been held in pre-trial detention since last year.

She added: “We need this to be observed. We all know now that we’re in the middle of a really important historical moment, and (the defendants) are not being supported at the trial by the Irish government.

“I think it will be a matter of regret to the government if they don’t step up and do what the Taoiseach said to the UN and act.” 

In the Dáil, Ms McEntee rejected the suggestion that trial observers were not being sent because of “not wanting to embarrass the German government”.

Ms McEntee said that consulate staff, including the consul general, had visited Tatlow-Devally in prison on seven occasions, and that “generally when someone is in this situation” there are about two visits a year.