First day of higher appeal and all court dates are set
The court dates are 5th of march, 20th of march, 5th of april, 26th of april. Please see events for time and place.
Last Friday, February 9 2018, the first court day of the higher appeal in Peike’s case took place. Around 30 people travelled from Amsterdam to the court in Hamburg to support Peike, and a big group of German comrades was also present at the trial. In front of the courthouse there was coffee, music, and breakfast arranged by the German anti-G20 support group. Inside, the public was “welcomed” by riot police.
During the trial two cops from Berlin (Koslik and Marx) were heard as witnesses. Generally the day progressed slowly and consisted mostly of interruptions, since neither Koslik or Marx had a statement from their boss which stated what they could or could not say. After the lunch break the judge began questioning Koslik, who during the first case stated he had seen Peike throw two bottles. The document (Kurzbericht) which Marx (the cop who claims having been hit by the bottles, and who probably finalised the arrest) made up after the arrest however was missing in the file, while Koslik’s witness statement was based on this document.
After this, the defense interrogated Koslik, who answered practically every question concerning July 6 (the day of Peike’s arrest) by stating that he did not remember. The questions concerning who he had worked with, where the arrest had taken place, who had brought Peike to the police station, whether there had been given an order to arrest, how the arrest took place, what he had done after the arrest during the rest of the day and when his shift ended, all remained unanswered. Besides, Koslik’s statement about the appearance of the bottle-thrower had also changed: previously, in his original statement, he said that the person throwing had dreadlocks, whereas now he claimed to have seen a man with longer hair and a beard.
Due to the many interruptions in order to correct formal errors Marx was not heard as a witness on the 9th, and neither was Koslik’s interrogation done by the end of the trial. The next court session, on February 16, will begin with this, and Marx will also be heard then.
After the 16th four subsequent court dates have been planned, on March 5, March 20, April 5 and April 26. Peike was visibly happy with all the people who came to support him, so if you are able to come to the next sessions, this is much appreciated!
