Richard Boyd Barrett presses Minister to send trial observers
Richard Boyd Barrett challenged the Minister over the case of Irish citizen Daniel Tatlow-Devally during an Oireachtas exchange, pressing for Irish observers to attend his trial in Germany. He said he and a cross-party delegation had concerns about the fairness of the proceedings and called for greater oversight.
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Transcript
Minister, Daniel Tatelodjevalli has been 23 hours a day locked up in a German prison for
13 months now for having a protest where no human being was hurt against an arms manufacturer
providing weapons to Israel to commit its crimes.
His family, myself, a cross-party delegation that went over in July to witness the trial
believe he's not getting a fair trial and we've repeatedly asked you to send observers
to observe that trial and despite conveying the impression that you are doing that, in
actuality you have not done it.
Will you send observers to the trial to give some sort of oversight to ensure this show
trial is at least observed?
Thank you, Cahirloch, and thank you, Deputy, for raising this matter and I know that, as
you've said, you've travelled recently with a number of colleagues from my own party and
cross-party to Germany specifically to engage with Daniel and his family.
I'm aware that my officials have facilitated and provided support and obviously we will
continue to provide that support to you but most importantly to his family and I am, and
I have to state this, I am following developments very closely and will continue to do so because
at the heart of this we do have an Irish citizen who is going through a very difficult time,
whose family are going through a very difficult time and our focus as a department has to
be the welfare of our Irish citizens, whether they are in prison, whether they are on trial,
whatever the circumstance, it's making sure that we have compassionate, non-judgmental
consular assistance to ensure the well-being of our Irish citizens and that has been my
focus and my priority and indeed that of our team.
We have a consulate general in Munich, supported by our embassy in Berlin, our consular assistance
unit in Dublin have all been providing assistance to Daniel since September of 2025.
We have a dedicated consular officer in Munich assigned to the case.
We have consulate staff, including the consulate general, who visited Daniel in prison on seven
separate occasions, most recently on the 1st of September.
I think generally, where you have someone in this situation, there's about two visits
a year.
There have been seven visits over the last year because of, I suppose, the issues that
have been raised and because I'm very keen that we engage directly with Daniel and his
family.
There's a further visit scheduled for this week, which, as I said, is quite a higher
number of engagements than you would generally have.
These visits allow us to assess the conditions of detention, but also the welfare of the
individual of Daniel.
They're also an opportunity for him to raise any concerns about his treatment with us and
we've been very clear in saying and asking to raise where there are issues that emerge.
Germany shares our foundational commitment to the rule of law as a member state of the
European Union, and while we recognise that laws and practices can differ greatly across
the world, we do expect that for a member of the European Union where we have shared
values and commitments, that we see those types of practices upheld.
Naturally, though, there are different aspects of the legal process in Germany that may operate
differently from a legal process here in Ireland, so you've mentioned the formal transcription
of court hearings being a common practice in Ireland.
It is absolutely, my understanding and as has been relayed to me, is that it is not
uncommon for a presiding judge to dictate a formal summary of the proceedings in the
official record.
I have other examples of cases that have been brought to me recently where the jurisdiction
have done things differently, but it's not specific to the Irish individual, so I just
have to stress that we are monitoring and keeping a very, very close eye on this.
Right.
Minister, you wrote in recent correspondence about the case.
My department is satisfied that Daniel is being treated equally before the law compared
with any German citizen in their situation.
Now, I went to the court.
Next door, in the court in Stanheim, which is a court reserved for terrorists and organised
criminals, Daniel is neither, and nobody is even suggesting he is, so why is he in that
Right?
No other German citizen in that situation would be in that court, for what he's accused
of.
In the court next door, there were people who were engaged from a far-right group in
an armed coup against the German state and had discharged weapons, and some of those
people were out on bail.
He's been refused bail.
These were people who threatened the German state, being treated better than Daniel is.
And then you have said, in responses to us, that you're monitoring, I'm quoting you
now, keeping a close eye, direct oversight, fair oversight, full sight over the trial.
Taoiseach even said that we'd sent observers on Tuesday.
You haven't sent anybody to the trial.
We were there.
A cross-party group, including, as you say, members of your own party.
It's a show trial.
It's not a fair trial.
He's not being treated.
His legal team say they've never seen anything like it.
Will you send observers?
Look, based on what you've literally just said, in terms of the comparison, I'm happy
to engage further with his family, I'm happy to engage further in terms of what more we
can do.
As I said, Germany is a country of the EU, and we expect that the rules that they apply,
that their court systems and structures uphold the values that we share.
But I'm very conscious of what you've said, I'm very conscious of what has been relayed
to me by colleagues as well.
We are keeping oversight on what is happening.
We are engaging extensively with him, and as I said, we are speaking directly to Daniel,
to his family, because first and foremost, the role that we have is making sure that
the welfare of our citizens are being protected.
I appreciate he's in prison, so that is a very difficult situation to try and square
those two.
At the same time, we have an obligation to make sure that our citizens are treated fairly.
So I will again follow up with you on this and see if there's something further that
we can do.
But I have to stress, we are, through the many different teams that are engaged on this
within Germany and with our consular teams, engaging and having, I suppose, full oversight
of what is happening in the courts.
But I will follow up with you directly and with Deputy Ward after this to see if there's
more that we can do.
Thank you.
Yeah, Minister, just send observers, will you, for a start.
And frankly, I'd like you to go further.
They're kept in glass cages.
There was even, when we were there, there were security people blocking us from just
seeing through the glass.
They can't communicate properly with their legal team during the trial.
They have to depend on translation, which means they can't hear what the actual proceedings
are going on.
They're being treated as if they are terrorists, when they are clearly not.
The TDs and ROCDIS members and MVPs, we had pen and paper physically taken off us so we
couldn't take notes in the court.
It's absolutely unbelievable.
Not a single motion that is put forward by the defence is given by the judge.
She just ignores everything the defence say.
It's a complete show trial.
It's a complete show trial.
Now, if something needs to be done, it's politically motivated what's being done to them.
So we're asking for a simple thing.
Stop conveying the impression that we're observing when we're not, and send observers to watch
the trial.
And by the way, you are signed up to guidelines on human rights defenders, European guidelines,
as is Germany, which recommends sending trial observers.
And yet we won't do it.
I don't understand why we're not doing it, Minister.
I really don't.
And I fear it's something to do with not wanting to embarrass the German government, and that
has to stop.
Thank you.
Deputy, I completely refute that.
I have raised this directly with my German colleagues, so I have no issue in raising
this case.
I have no issue in highlighting where there are issues of concern.
What I've said, though, and consistently stated, is that the role of our consulate and our
teams, first and foremost, is to protect and to support our Irish citizens.
It is not to provide the legal advice, nor is it to be able to be in a position where
we are contradicting or taking on the role of the legal advisors.
And I know that Daniel and his family obviously have a legal team that is supporting them.
However, I've said very clearly today, I'm very happy to engage further based on what
you've just outlined.
You know, I have another case that's been highlighted to me of an Irish citizen that's
abroad where the criminal justice system is different, where when you look at it, the
rules that are being applied are similar rules that are applying to other citizens, not just
our own.
So we do have to acknowledge and take that into consideration, which you've just outlined.
Another case that I wasn't aware of that sounds completely different and contradictory.
So I'm happy to engage further with you on this and see if there's more that we can do.