German court convicts three over pre-election exhaust pipe sabotage across four states

Verdict in Ulm District Court

The Ulm District Court convicted three young defendants on 5 October 2026 for joint property damage following a coordinated sabotage campaign against parked vehicles in late 2024. The court sentenced two men, aged 18 and 22, to pay fines of 3,000 euros each to the state treasury under juvenile criminal law. A 21-year-old woman, who took part in only one of the attacks, received an order to complete 50 hours of community service. The prosecution had requested fines of 5,000 euros for each male defendant and 80 hours of community work for the woman. All three defendants entered full confessions through their defense lawyers at the opening of proceedings in the Ulm court building, stating that they deeply regretted their actions. Proceedings against a fourth suspect were terminated because he was already incarcerated in connection with a separate conviction.

Coordinated attacks across four federal states

The group targeted vehicles during December 2024 across four German federal states, carrying out vandalism in Blaubeuren, Langenau, and Ulm in Baden-Württemberg, Neu-Ulm in Bavaria, Schönefeld in Brandenburg, and Berlin. Surveillance camera footage from 11 December 2024 recorded the perpetrators stopping alongside parked vehicles at 01:59 to execute the sabotage. The perpetrators filled exhaust pipes with expanding construction foam, which causes severe vehicle damage once hardened inside the exhaust system. Simultaneously, they affixed stickers to the car bodies and windows displaying the slogan "SEI GRÜNER" alongside a photo of then-Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Robert Habeck. Prosecutors recorded 20 distinct acts of property damage, with total repair costs reaching 13,663.82 euros. The suspects were apprehended following a police stop in Brandenburg, where officers discovered cans of construction foam and political stickers inside their vehicle.

Bounty payments and foreign orchestrators

The defendants, who had relocated to Germany from Bosnia, Serbia, and Romania, worked in a coordinated division of labor. One individual sprayed expanding foam, another applied the political stickers, and the third photographed the finished damage. Investigators determined that the campaign was designed to manipulate voter attitudes against the Green Party ahead of the February 2025 federal election. The perpetrators were promised a payment of 100 euros for each vehicle damaged. A suspect initially indicated that the assignments had been commissioned by a Serbian citizen operating from Russia, though the 18-year-old defendant stated through his attorney that he did not know the organizer. The presiding judge clarified at the start of the trial that foreign or domestic organizers were not part of the proceedings, noting that the prosecution had closed its inquiry into unknown wirepullers after exhausting all investigative avenues.

Intelligence warnings on disposable agents

The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution has warned of Russian intelligence efforts to enlist petty criminals and young recruits as disposable agents for sabotage, propaganda, and surveillance across Germany. German authorities classify these proxy operations as elements of a broader hybrid campaign. During a public hearing before the Parliamentary Control Panel of the Bundestag on 5 October 2026, the president of the Federal Intelligence Service, Martin Jäger, addressed the growing scope of low-threshold foreign sabotage.

Russia is waging a shadow war against us.

German security agencies continue to monitor foreign recruitment networks that commission low-level property damage and disruption without utilizing official intelligence officers.