The following is an open letter first published in German on Left Voice’s sister site, Klasse Gegen Klasse. Read more about the case here.
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Baki Devrimkaya, a nursing student and activist in solidarity with Palestine in Germany, is on trial for alleged assault. The plaintiff is one of Berlin’s most well-known Zionists.
The lawsuit for alleged assault is based on a lecture hall occupation on December 14, 2023, at the Free University of Berlin. There, Baki nonviolently defended access to the occupied lecture hall against counterprotesters who shouted genocidal quotes from Israeli politicians as they tore down posters and pictures and harassed activists at the entrance to the lecture hall.
The lecture hall occupation was one of many occupations in Berlin that were met with massive police violence and broken up. The authorities continue to criminalize protests in solidarity with Palestine by different means. In the fall of 2023, demonstrations were often prohibited entirely.
The baseless lawsuit against Baki is therefore not an isolated case, but part of a massive campaign of repression against activists in solidarity with Palestine. Since October 7, 2023, hundreds of students and demonstrators have faced lawsuits because they were reported to the police in connection with lecture hall occupations and demonstrations. Internationally, the Palestinian movement has also been persecuted with baseless accusations, such as the recent case of railway worker and member of Révolution Permanente, Anasse Kazib, who was charged with “apology for terrorism” for tweets in solidarity with Palestine, or European Parliament member Rima Hassan (LFI). Nevertheless, the Palestinian movement continues to bring millions onto the streets around the world and has staged progressive actions such as the blockade of arms deliveries by port workers, which offer a perspective for an end to the genocide.
Baki himself saw his defense of the lecture hall occupation at the FU Berlin as an expression of deep international solidarity: “For me, as a healthcare worker who is committed to our healthcare colleagues in Gaza and fights for a safe and beautiful life for all people, it was clear: This occupied lecture hall must be protected from all kinds of attacks — whether by provocateurs who harass, intimidate, and threaten peaceful students, or by the state and its servants, who removed these peaceful students from the lecture hall with hundreds of police officers.”
Germany wants to use Baki’s trial as an example to intimidate us all. For us, however, it is a trial for humanity, against genocide, against Germany’s complicity, and against every war in this world that is waged or supported by imperialist powers.
We, the undersigned, demand: Acquittal for Baki! Stop the genocide in Gaza and stop the criminalization of solidarity with Palestine!