Germany starts one of the largest cyber-attack trials
The prosecution charges a group of eight people who allegedly operate a cybercrime bunker in the German city of Trier
One of Germany’s largest cybercrime trials began today in the city of Trier in relation to a cyber bunker allegedly operated by eight people in the municipality of Traben-Trarbach, in the center-east of the country.
The prosecution accuses the alleged criminal gang of aiding and abetting more than 249,000 computer crimes, mainly transactions originating from drug trafficking, but also data theft, child pornography, cyberattacks and murder orders.
The defendants are aged between 21 and 60 and are four Dutch, three German and one Bulgarian. All are accused of having hosted illegal websites, in varying degrees of involvement, with the aim of helping their clients commit crimes.
According to the prosecution, the alleged head of the gang was a 60-year-old Dutchman, who in 2013 bought and expanded the underground facility where the gang operated its servers, made available for operations for the so-called darknet.
It is expected that on this first day of trial, held under strict hygiene and security measures due to the coronavirus pandemic, the prosecution will read his 40-page indictment. According to the court, no witnesses have yet been summoned.
Source: dpa
