Five Vietnamese on trial for bloodbath in Germany (Roundup)

Aug 27, 2007, 15:56 GMT

Stade, Germany - Five Vietnamese men appeared in a German court in shackles Monday at the start of their trial for the killings of seven people during a robbery at an Asian restaurant.

After protests by defence lawyers, presiding judge Hans-Georg Kaemena reluctantly ordered the leg-irons removed.

The lawyers also objected that they had not received complete sets of the prosecution files in due time.

Before the indictment could be read, the trial in town of Stade was adjourned till September 11 to allow the defence more preparation time. One lawyer also applied for the dismissal of lay assessors helping the judges.

Only a baby girl survived the mysterious after-hours bloodbath in February at the Lin Yue restaurant in Sittensen, a peaceful small town 40 kilometres south-west of Hamburg.

Five staff from Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Hong Kong were tied up and shot dead along with popular local restaurant owner Danny Wing Hong Fan, 32, and his 28-year-old wife, both British citizens and parents of the baby.

Two waitresses, the owners and two male staff lay tied up and dead in different rooms of the neat walk-up restaurant when the police arrived. Another man died in hospital.

Lacking confessions, prosecutors say they will use forensic evidence from police scientists to prove the complicity of the accused, who include two pairs of brothers. A verdict is not expected until next year.

The attack, late on February 4, upset Germany's peaceful Asian community, but police swiftly assured the minority it was a one-off robbery and not a sign of organized crime or underworld intimidation.

A casual employee, who is among the accused, is alleged to have suggested the hold-up and sketched the interior of the restaurant to help the attackers during the raid.

The sketch, found in a car when two accused were arrested on a highway the day after the killings, is to be one of the exhibits at the trial.

Three accused face charges of murder and the other two charges of robbery. All the Vietnamese were long-term residents of Germany living in or near the city of Bremen.

All 10 defence lawyers complained Monday that they had not been given complete prosecution files, and that they kept receiving additional papers from the prosecution until the last minute, indicating police had not finished the inquiry yet.

Prosecutors are expected to tell the court that a 30-year-old accused had been described by other accused as holding a pistol while he stood next to two bodies and speaking later of how he had shot people.

One defence lawyer challenged the two lay assessors, saying he was concerned that a German news magazine had obtained detailed information on the case and published it. Assessors are similar to jurors but with less power.

Defence counsel Bernhard Docke suggested incriminating evidence was being leaked 'American style' to the media.

All visitors to court were searched and security was tight. Judge Kaemena initially justified the use of shackles, saying, 'We've never had a trial of this degree in modern Germany,' but yielded to the protests against them by defence counsel.