Press release from families and loved ones of the Ulm5 – 4th June 2026, Stuttgart
Visit www.ulm5.info to read the full statements
Next hearings: 15th, 19th, 29th June – 9:00 at Asperger Str. 47, 70439 Stuttgart
The Ulm5 – the five international activists currently on trial in Stuttgart for their attempt to halt the flow of weapons to the Israeli military – have stated the motivations behind their action in the German production site of Elbit Systems in Ulm.
Family and loved ones from the UK, Ireland, and Germany were present at the hearing and are very proud of the powerful statements that Daniel, Crow, Leandra, Zo, and Vi delivered with unapologetic confidence. Following denial of rights and repeated delays by the judge, the five were finally able to establish their reasons for taking direct action.
All five Berliners expressed their humanitarian intention to disrupt the production of weapons Israel is using to target civilians, including children, and to highlight the fact that the German state is enabling and profiting from war crimes and crimes against humanity. Another recurring point was the lack of due process and concern they won't receive a fair trial under the current judge.
Irish citizen Daniel Tatlow-Devally explained, “By damaging the arms production facilities of Elbit Systems in Ulm, the aim was to stop … material support for the crimes being committed in Gaza. ... Furthermore, I acted with the intention of publicly exposing the scandalous fact that the German government … are actively supporting and profiting from the war against Gaza.” Daniel strongly rejected the prosecutor's attempt to smear the five, saying, “It is disgraceful to characterize resistance against occupation and mass murder as antisemitism,” and referenced in particular the “moral compass, kindness of heart, and resilience” of their Jewish stepfather as a major influence on their upbringing.
Crow Tricks from the UK cited their long-standing but fruitless lawful efforts in Berlin as well as the longer historical context – Israel's 70 years of illegal occupation, apartheid, and repeated genocides against Palestinians – framing the action against Elbit Systems as a logical progression of events: “We protested multiple times a week … We made petitions. We sent direct emails to government officials. We participated in local boycott and sanction campaigns of Israeli companies profiting off of Palestinian suffering. No method that was in line with German law worked, and the death toll in Gaza only increased as our demands were conveyed.”
Leandra Rollo, a Spanish citizen, explained how the action was in response to “the bombing of hospitals, schools, universities, homes, and infrastructure; a full blockade of food, water, medicine, and electricity; children being shot in their heads in cold blood by IOF soldiers, or being murdered by starvation, or having limbs amputated without anaesthetic.” Her exposure to colonial violence and indigenous dispossession in her native Argentina was the background to feeling a duty to prevent similar erasure of Palestinian life and culture – and on a greater scale, she “took action to insist upon the existence of a single human reality, populated by billions of sacred human beings to whom universal law of protection must and will be applied.”
Zo Hailu from the UK prefaced their statement by calling out the presiding judge for neglecting the defendants' fundamental rights and the state prosecutor for smirking and sniggering whilst defence counsel spoke of Elbit drones killing children. With striking lucidity Zo then connected the dots from British colonialism and extractivism, to Germany's genocide on the Herero and Nama peoples, to the Global North's current economic interests in upholding the Zionist project. “In January 2024 the [ICJ ruled] provisionally that there was already probable grounds indicating the state of Israel was committing genocide. … And what has the German government done since? Continued with state visits and diplomatically supporting the state of Israel. Continued exporting weaponry and military technology essential for sustaining the genocide. Continued profiting from this very genocide.”
German citizen Vi Kovarbasic emanated empathy, asking the court to engage their imaginations: “Whilst the people of Ulm take their children to school, do their shopping in the pedestrian zones and enjoy the spring sunshine in the parks, instruments are being built in the immediate vicinity, in the halls of Elbit Systems, which have been used for decades to surveil, terrorise and murder people in Palestine and elsewhere.” Vi's compassion for all humanity, above all for the most helpless among us, is what drove them: “I had no choice but to use my own hands to prevent the construction of yet another drone. In the hope that perhaps one fewer person might have to die.”
In a normal trial, defendants give their testimonies on the first day, but as anyone paying attention so far has seen, nothing is normal in the trial of the Ulm5: The presiding judge Kathrin Lauchstädt has consistently denied the defendants’ fundamental rights, such as confidential communication with their attorneys and the presumption of innocence in accordance with the German constitution (Grundgesetz) and the European Convention on Human Rights. She has repeatedly rejected defence motions to end these violations. A response from the State Security Chamber to defence counsel's motion of recusal against her, and the entire judges' panel, filed immediately after the first day of the trial, is still pending.
Meanwhile, the defence's long-standing demand that the state prosecutor (and CDU party associate) Ronny Stengel investigate Elbit Systems for its potential war crimes remains completely ignored.
Zo's statement closed with these damning words, encapsulating how German justice itself is now on trial: “Theoretically an essential element of democracy is the separation of powers. So, while the executive branch, the German government, has very clearly chosen complicity, what will the judicial branch in this case, choose: complicity, or ‘Nie wieder’ [Never Again]?”
Families and partners are available for interviews: ulm5family@proton.me Visit www.ulm5.info for all press releases from lawyers and family as well as all trial dates Instagram: @theulm5