German aide of Carlos the Jackal on trial for attacks

BERLIN -- An associate of Carlos the Jackal, already serving a life sentence, faced new murder charges at a trial starting Wednesday for five attacks in Western Europe that killed six people in the 1970s and 1980s.

Johannes Weinrich, 55, who once was at the top of Germany's most-wanted list, was head of European operations for Ilich Ramirez Sanchez -- the man known as Carlos -- during what prosecutors described as a gun-for-hire career for Arab and East European governments that ended with his capture and extradition from Yemen in 1995.

Weinrich, a slight, nervous-looking man, already is serving a life sentence for a 1983 attack on a French cultural institute in then-West Berlin that killed one man and injured 23 others.

Sitting inside a bulletproof glass box, Weinrich shrugged and smiled at the judge when asked for his occupation. "Prisoner," he responded.

But he showed no emotion as prosecutors read the new charges -- six counts of murder, more than 150 counts of attempted murder, and causing explosions -- taking notes with his head bowed.

Weinrich told the court he wouldn't testify. Defense lawyer Rainer Elfferding accused prosecutors of delaying the trial for years and feeding information to the media to portray Weinrich as a "beast," interpreted by the court as a request to dismiss the case.

Presiding Judge Ralph Ehestaett said he would rule on the request at the next session March 17.

While multiple life sentences are not allowed by German law, prosecutors say they aim to prove Weinrich's responsibility for the attacks -- including a pair of New Year's Eve blasts at the main train station in Marseille, France, that killed five people in 1983.

"The relatives have the right that the justice system tells them: this is who killed your father, mother or child," chief prosecutor Detlev Mehlis told reporters in the courthouse.

Security was tight, with police stationed outside the main entrance. The media and public were searched twice before entry.

Weinrich also is charged with a 1982 car bombing in Paris that killed a woman passing by. Prosecutors allege the blast was ordered by Syria to kill a newspaper publisher but the bombers paid no heed to innocent victims.

"It was about killing as many people as possible, completely aimlessly," Mehlis said said.

Other counts accuse Weinrich of involvement in a 1975 rocket attack at a Paris airport that missed its intended target -- an Israeli airliner -- but injured three people on another plane and a police officer.

He also allegedly organized a 1983 attack on the Saudi Arabian ambassador in Athens, Greece, at Libya's request. A bystander was injured. Weinrich also is accused of the 1981 bombing of Radio Free Europe in Munich, Germany, which injured three.

About 20 victims joined the prosecution as co-plaintiffs, although only one was at the court on Wednesday.

"It's very important and good for me that the trial is going ahead," Marie Pulda, 62, told reporters. "This cannot go unpunished."

The defense argued that evidence against Weinrich gleaned from communist East German and Hungarian secret services was unreliable because they often obtained information illegally or made it up.

The court also will hear key testimony in the next session from Weinrich's former girlfriend Magdalena Kopp, who later became Carlos' lover and herself served nearly four years in a French prison for terror-related offenses.

Prosecutors believe several of the attacks were unsuccessful attempts to pressure France to free Kopp and another associate.

Weinrich also was a member of the Red Army Faction, the German group that ended more than two decades of attacks against NATO and industrial targets in Germany in 1992.

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.