German chancellor rejects claims Irish activist Daniel Tatlow-Devally faces ‘show trial’

Taoiseach Micheál Martin with German chancellor Friedrich Merz at a bilateral meeting in Farmleigh House, Dublin, on Tuesday.

The German chancellor has rejected claims a case involving an Irish pro-Palestinian activist amounts to a "show trial".

Concerns have been raised about the treatment of Daniel Tatlow-Devally in custody, with politicians from both Government and opposition parties calling on Taoiseach Micheál Martin to send observers to hearings in the Ulm 5 trial.

Last week, Fine Gael TD Barry Ward, who was part of a cross-party delegation that visited the Dubliner in Germany and attended one of the hearings, described the proceedings as a show trial.

“I do have difficulty with what I saw as being far short of the minimum standards you expect for fair trial," said Mr Ward, who is also a barrister, adding the dispute was not about “the facts of what happened, [but] more about the character of what happened”.

German prosecutors say Mr Tatlow-Devally was part of a group of five activists who trespassed on to a site owned by Israel’s Elbit Systems last September in the southern city of Ulm, shouting pro-Palestinian slogans as they destroyed equipment and smashed windows. They are accused of causing about €1m in damage.

Asked about the case on Tuesday ahead of a meeting with the Taoiseach, chancellor Friedrich Merz said there were clear judicial procedures in Germany, adding consular assistance was being provided to those involved.

"The accused are being provided with a legal defence team and I have absolutely no doubt that regardless or any nationality, judicial processes in Germany are conducted according to internationally valid standards."

Speaking in German outside Farmleigh House, he said the judicial system was "independent" and was "also obliged to follow legal standards".

Mr Martin said Mr Tatlow-Devally and his family had been offered consular assistance with up to six visits made to him by officials to date.

Mr Tatlow-Devally has been charged with trespassing, destruction of property, and membership of a criminal organisation — Palestine Action Germany — under section 129 of the German criminal code.

That charge means authorities consider the accused a threat to society, allowing them to deny bail, even after the six-month limit of pre-trial detention had passed. If found guilty, they face up to five years in prison.

Court representatives have said the conditions of the defendants’ detention are warranted based on the severity of the charges against them.

When the case first came to court in April, Stuttgart’s higher regional court ordered the continuation of pre-trial detention for all defendants based on “a risk of flight, which would not be sufficiently mitigated even by the posting of bail”.

Separately, Mr Martin offered his deepest condolences to Mr Merz on those killed and injured in what he described as the "horrific attack" on Berlin Pride at the weekend.

One woman was killed and about 29 others were injured in the attack. The main suspect, Abdul Ballout, a 21-year-old German citizen with Lebanese heritage, was shot and killed by police on Sunday.

Mr Martin said: "Pride celebrates important European values — inclusion, equality, respect, and protection for minorities. An attack on those values anywhere in the union is an attack on those values everywhere in the union. We cannot and we must not ever tolerate it or accept it."