May 6, 2014
Hearing of witness Diba Sayed, translator of the police, tasked with translation of
interrogations and telephone observations.
About the term „Schleppungswillige“, an invented word which was used to translate
a Punjabi term for “person”. The direct English translation would be “person-who-is-
willing-to-be-smuggled“.
Lawyer: How did the term “Schleppungswillige“ get into the translation? Is it this word,
about which you have said that you were writing it down because it looks better?
Diba Sayed: Yes of course, it was like that.
Lawyer: You were writing it, because it looks better?
Diba Sayed: No.
About one certain telephone protocol:
Lawyer: Well, let’s say, my secretary calls me and says, ‘Herr Magister, Sir,¹ the persons
are here, come, fast!’ I say: ‘I don’t have time.’ How do you interpret this?
Witness: You are the Herr Magister, not the smuggler, of course.
Hearing of Rahim Sayed, translator of the police, tasked with translation of interro-
gations and telephone observations, brother of Diba Sayed.
About the term “agent“, which would be the translation of “smuggler“ in Urdu and
Punjabi.
Rahim Sayed: Agent, for example, can also mean something else. … If there are words
with different meanings, we just write down this word.
Rahim Sayed, asked if he knows what „Zweifelsgrundsatz“ (the justice term for the
principle that the accused enjoys the benefit of the doubt) means, ‘Of course I know, it
means that maybe you can get wrong answers.’
Lawyer: I would kindly ask for Name, rank and function of the gentlemen from the exec-
utive in the back of the room or alternatively clarify if there are possible witnesses in the
court-room.
Note for the protocol: Two policemen, who were present at the arrests, say so and leave
the courtroom due to the request of the chief judge.
Lawyer: I would ask kindly to note for the protocol that possibly these persons were pres-
ent at earlier hearings.²
June 12, 2014:
Hearing of Bernhard Korner, policemen at SOKO Schlepperei Süd. As leader of the
operation he has the overall responsibility.
Question: Do you have the personal data of the police informant?
Korner: No, the person is not registered. It is only an informant.
Question: Are you sure?
Korner: Yes.
Question: I confront you with the files, there is a note to which you referred. The last
sentence says, ‘The personal data of the police informant are noted at the station of SOKO
Schlepperei Süd.’ What do you say?
Korner: This is my department, which is under closure.
Question: I asked you if you have it and you said no!
Question: Are there any files which have not been given to the court till now?
Korner: I cannot tell you this. You have to ask the coordinating officers.
Question: You yourself said that you coordinate and sign the reports, so you should have
an overview!
Korner: According to my knowledge, everything that was relevant for the case was given
to the court. I cannot say more about this.
Question: Are there pictures from the observations?
Korner: I cannot tell you this. It is the task of the coordinating officer.
Question: This means you don’t know anything about this case?
Korner does not answer.
Lawyer: We have already been talking about the translation and you said that there were
words which don’t exist in German. So, there were words said in Punjabi but it is not
possible to translate them, because they don’t exist in German. But still it has to be trans-
lated. Can you give an example?
Korner: The word „Schleppungswillige“.
Lawyer: But the word „Schleppungswillige“ does exist in German. It is called Schleppung-
swillige!
June 16, 2014
Hearing of Johannes Jandrisevits, Policemen at SOKO Schlepperei Süd, coordina-
tor of the telephone observation.
Lawyer: You are familiar with the basics of the criminal procedure. Does Zweifelsgrund-
satz (benefit of the doubt) mean anything to you?
Jandrisevits: Not really.
Hearing of Roman Stangl, officer at SOKO Schlepperei Süd, tasked with telephone
observation.
Lawyer: Does Zweifelsgrundsatz (benefit of the doubt) mean anything to you?
Stangl: What do you mean by that?
Lawyer: Does presumption of innocence ring a bell?
Stangl: Yes, of course.
Lawyer: Can you explain this term to us shortly?
Stangl: I think this has nothing to do with the file, has it?
September 24, 2014
Judge: For the protocol we note that one can hear in the recording that one of the persons
is singing. The chief judge has the impression that the persons speaking have fun.
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¹ The term „Herr Magister“, is a way of addressing a person who has a university degree.
² During the hearings of the translators and the police constantly other police(wo)men have
been present in the court-room, for job-related reason, as they said. After their hearings
were over, they haven’t been there anymore.