Jackal refuses to testify at German trial

Jailed terrorist Carlos the Jackal has refused to provide evidence by video link to the murder trial in Germany of one of his top lieutenants.

Johannes Weinrich, Carlos’ head of European operations, is charged with six counts of murder and 22 counts of attempted murder for his alleged role in a series of bomb attacks in Europe in the 1970s and 1980s.

He already is serving a life sentence for a 1983 attack on a French cultural centre in then-West Berlin that killed a man.

Last month, the Berlin state court delayed a verdict in Weinrich’s second trial after lawyers for victims of the attacks made a last-minute bid to secure evidence from Ilich Ramirez Sanchez – the man known as Carlos.

A first attempt failed last year when German authorities ruled that it would be too much of a security risk for Carlos to be brought from France, where he is serving a life sentence.

Presiding Judge Ralph Ehestaett said today that Carlos is sticking by his earlier refusal to make any statements to the court unless he is allowed to do so in person.

Lawyers for Carlos informed the Berlin judges that he ”remains unwilling to offer testimony by video-conference”, Ehestaett said. The court set no new date for a verdict.

Weinrich has been on trial since March 2003 for his alleged role in a series of bomb attacks in France, Greece and Germany.

These include twin New Year’s Eve blasts at the main train station in Marseille that killed five people in 1983; a 1982 car bombing in Paris that killed a passer-by; and the 1981 bombing of Radio Free Europe in Munich, which injured three.

Carlos, a Venezuelan, was arrested in Sudan in 1994 and handed over to France, where he is serving life for the 1975 murders of two French secret agents and an alleged informer.