THREE GERMAN members of a Hells Angels biker gang were jailed and 11 more received suspended sentences on Tuesday in what was billed as the country's largest trial of its kind.
The sentences were handed down on the second day of a trial of the 14 Hells Angels members after the defendants reached a plea bargain deal with prosecutors on charges of assaulting and robbing members of a rival gang.
The Hells Angels, wearing spiked helmets and wielding axe handles, raided the headquarters of a rival gang, the Bandidos, in the town of Stuhr in March 2006, brutally beating five rival gang members and stealing money and a laptop, the court found.Insignia were taken as trophies to decorate their own headquarters. The trial was held amid tight security.
Police with sniffer dogs combed the courthouse and squad cars patrolled the highways leading into town to prevent renewed clashes between the rival gangs.
Three of the accused received respectively 34, 32, and 30 month prison sentences, while 11 others were handed two year suspended prison sentences.
