Berlin Higher Regional Court Sentences Two Men for Armed Activities in Lebanon

The Berlin Higher Regional Court handed down prison sentences to two men on Thursday for their involvement in armed activity in Lebanon, with a 30-year-old German citizen receiving three years and nine months and a 39-year-old Lebanese citizen receiving three years and three months. The cases, heard separately, both involved defendants who had boasted in private chat messages about being elite soldiers trained by Hezbollah — claims the court dismissed in both instances as exaggerated self-promotion. The two verdicts are not yet legally binding.

German citizen fought with clan weapons, not Hezbollah The 30-year-old, a German national whose family originates from Lebanon, was convicted of violating the War Weapons Control Act and using symbols of terrorist organizations, after the court established that he participated in armed combat in Lebanon between December 2023 and April 2025. During that period, he fired assault rifles, posed with weapons for photos and videos, and published propaganda posts on social networks that glorified Hezbollah and supported its goals. The General Prosecutor's Office had also charged him with membership in Hezbollah, requesting a five-year sentence, but the court found that charge could not be established. Judges determined that the weapons he used belonged not to Hezbollah but to an extended family residing in the Beqaa Valley in Lebanon, which secures its interests through such arms. The court concluded that his chat messages — in which he claimed to have been trained by the militia and to be fighting with "his unit" — were intended to impress female chat partners and like-minded acquaintances rather than reflect reality. The defendant, described as a member of a well-known Arab extended family in Berlin, had previously served a multi-year prison sentence for other criminal offenses. He was arrested on April 15, 2025, in an apartment in the Neukölln district of Berlin and has remained in pre-trial detention since then.

3 (years 9 months) — Prison sentence for 30-year-old German citizen

Lebanese man confirmed as Hezbollah combatant for 14 months The case of the 39-year-old Lebanese citizen produced a different legal outcome on the central question of organizational membership. The State Protection Senate found him guilty of membership in a foreign terrorist organization, establishing that he served as a combatant for Hezbollah from May 2009 to July 2010 — a period of 14 months. During that time, he received remuneration from the organization and was required to remain available for an alarm system that could deploy him as a reserve at any moment. The case came to light after the man sent a chat message containing a photo of himself with a weapon, claiming membership in an elite Hezbollah unit and describing himself as an explosives expert. The presiding judge characterized those specific claims as "boastful behavior" toward a relative, finding no evidence in the main hearing that he was a "highly dangerous elite soldier." The man has lived in Germany since 2015 and was arrested in mid-March 2024, spending more than a year in pre-trial detention before sentencing. The court sentenced him to three years and three months, falling slightly below the prosecutor's request of three years and six months, while the defense had sought a significantly lower sentence.

3 (years 3 months) — Prison sentence for 39-year-old Lebanese citizen

Chat boasts backfired — but still landed both men in court The two cases share a notable pattern: private digital communications that defendants used to project a more dangerous image ultimately drew law enforcement attention and contributed to their prosecution. In both instances, the court took care to distinguish between what the men actually did and what they claimed to have done in messages. For the 30-year-old, the boasting led to a terrorism membership charge that the court ultimately rejected, though his confirmed combat activity and weapons use still produced a substantial sentence. For the 39-year-old, the chat messages overstated his role within Hezbollah but did not undermine the underlying finding of organizational membership, which rested on documented service as a combatant. The court's use of the German phrase "prahlerisches Gehabe" — boastful behavior — in both cases signals a deliberate judicial effort to separate provable facts from self-aggrandizement. Germany banned Hezbollah in its entirety in April 2020, classifying the organization as a terrorist group and making membership or support a criminal offense. Prior to that, German law had distinguished between Hezbollah's political and military wings. The Kammergericht, founded in the mid-15th century under Brandenburg Elector Friedrich II, is one of Germany's oldest courts and handles terrorism and state protection cases for the Berlin region.

Berlin Hezbollah sentencing verdicts — April 2026: Defendant age and nationality (before: 30-year-old German citizen, after: 39-year-old Lebanese citizen); Hezbollah membership established (before: No — court found insufficient evidence, after: Yes — confirmed combatant 2009–2010); Prison sentence handed down (before: 3 years 9 months, after: 3 years 3 months); Prosecutor's request (before: 5 years, after: 3 years 6 months)