State Repression Will Not Win– We Stand With The Ulm5

The German state has been trying to repress political action through making an example of the Ulm5 activists. BLMUK rejects the narrative that the criminalisation of political action is an act of ensuring public safety.

Five young Berlin-based activists (Daniel, Zo, Crow, Vi, and Leandra, pictured L-R) were arrested on the 8th September 2025 in connection with an action at Elbit Systems in Ulm, Germany. The action aimed to disrupt the flow of arms to Israel and to the genocide in Gaza. They have been held in pre-trial detention since their arrest and continue to endure grave human rights violations as the trial continues until, at least, January 2027.

Elbit Systems supplies 86% of the Israeli military’s weapons and surveillance technology, used in attacks that have killed and terrorised Palestinian children and adult civilians. No-one was harmed or threatened during the action, nor does the prosecutor allege any such harm.

However, the Ulm5 have been charged with:

• Trespassing

• Property damage – the prosecutor alleges €1.04 million

• Membership of a criminal organization – the notorious Section 129 of the German Criminal Code that has recently been used against political protest.

• Using symbols of an ‘unconstitutional organization’ (Hamas), for saying From the River to the Sea. This charge is highly contested in Germany with multiple courts refusing to convict due to its lack of clarity. 

Section 129 is an intentional repression tool.

Section 129 of the German Criminal Code (Strafgesetzbuch or StGB) criminalizes the formation, membership in, recruitment for, or support of a criminal organization. This charge considerably heightens the potential punishment that the defendants can receive for property damage, which typically carries a maximum penalty of two years or a fine. By adding Section 129, prosecutors elevate  the severity of the charge, exposing defendants to up to five years in prison. Section 129 has a long history of being used as a tool of political repression in Germany, and it is being used for this very reason once again. 

The intentionality of this charge becomes even more clear when understanding that, under this section, German law authorises exceptional policing, surveillance measures and pre-trial detention. This has led to many of the rights of the five protesters being taken away, exacerbating their already difficult time in pre-trial detention. So far during the trial, the court’s treatment of the defence lawyers and the Ulm5 has breached human rights, fair trial rights, presumption of innocence, and German law.

The act of the state desiring to convict a group as a criminal organisation with no basis is not a new one; aside from exhibiting eerie similarities to the treatment of the Filton25 activists in the UK, this tactic holds deeply racialised roots.

We know that Black and Brown people are disproportionately and very often falsely labelled as ‘gang members’ or members of a ‘joint enterprise’ group based on stereotyped terms that are ill-defined and highly racialised- such as clothing or music taste. Whether it is gang violence, criminal organisation, terrorism, or joint enterprise charges, these are often placed by manipulating public perception through bolstering harmful stereotypes. In the same way Black people who may listen to rap music and wear bandanas are framed as ‘gang members’ (see the Manchester 10 case), those like the Ulm5, who endorse pro-Palestine slogans and symbols such as ‘From the River to the Sea’, are framed as anti-semitic criminal organisations and enemies of the state.

Repressed and restricted for resisting.

On 17 July 2026, 18 Members of the European Parliament published an open letter expressing their concern over trial fairness. Families  of the ULM5 have also reported how the five have faced ‘extremely restrictive conditions’ during their pretrial detention, ‘including prolonged isolation, limited communication, inadequate medical care, and measures that negatively impact the defendants' physical and mental wellbeing’. Some of them have been held in solitary confinement, and have had no confidential means of communicating with their lawyers.

The state is also restricting the transparency of this case, by the judge refusing to allow the public’s right to make notes during hearings, claiming that pens could be used as ‘slash and stab weapons’ (Hieb- und Stichwaffen). Considering how the public are already placed behind bullet proof glass, and court security holds an intimidating presence of up to 16 armed riot police officers in a public library of 68 persons, including press, the banning of pens is clearly more about silencing and restricting information, than it is about safety.

It is clear that the German state’s aim in criminalising the Ulm5 is to repress and criminalise political action as a whole.

The criminal organisation charge and the inhumane treatment of the defendants is a warning; not only is the state making it explicit that it will put private companies, profit interests, and their political alliance with Israel above its people, but if you try and stand up against the genocide, against imperial powers and companies which directly profit from and aid a genocide, you will be subjected to isolation, torment, and you will suffer. 

It is a scare tactic used to force activists and the wider public into subjugation, and if the five are convicted, this will set a precedent that can be used to criminalise the pro-Palestine movement much more severely going forward.

Unfortunately for the state, we know that direct action works, and the people refuse to be divided or scared into consenting to the execution of a genocide.

Zo Hailu in court. Photo: Ignacio Rosaslanda

“let it be known, that no amount of repression and weaponizing antisemitism will separate us from our Palestinian siblings in the anticolonial struggle.” Zo Hailu (he/they), a member of the ULM5 currently on trial, powerfully has said in their statement. 

Zo is a Black British citizen, and has been subjected to what can only be described as torture during their pretrial imprisonment. Zo’s mother tells us that Zo has been treated as ‘scum’ in the ‘human dustbin’ as Zo calls the prison. Zo had been denied a planned tonsillectomy for chronic tonsillitis in October 2025, with additional dental complications potentially stemming from this. He was also only prescribed a pillow for their onset deafness in one ear. They are suffering trauma injuries from the pain and tightness of their handcuffs, which the judge refuses to remove or order a doctor to examine.

These are all traumatising and gruelling experiences that no one should be subjected. Zo’s and the rest of the Ulm5’s resilience is a testament to the importance of standing up against systems of violence, no matter the cost.

We know that the fight for Palestinian liberation is deeply interlinked with the fight for Black liberation, and Zo mentions this continuously and beautifully throughout their opening statement. It is in the interests of those colonial and imperial powers for us to become afraid, divided, and render ourselves inactive. Our systems are built on the unrelenting violence and bloodthirst of capitalist and settler-colonial powers which plunder the earth and exploit, pillage, and murder in their quest for stolen wealth and control.