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CRIME

‘Terror-pisser’ killed neighbour’s garden with night-time golden showers

A couple in Hamburg have finally got to the bottom of why the plants in their front garden keep turning brown and dying – their neighbour has been urinating on them at night.

'Terror-pisser' killed neighbour's garden with night-time golden showers
Photo: A screenshot of the video of the 'terror-pisser'.

A years-long feud between the two families could now be finished, after the weed-upon couple confronted their urinating neighbour – dubbed the “terror-pisser” – with video evidence of his night-time activities.

The Hamburger Morgenpost newspaper reported that Dieter and Rosemarie Friebel, who live in the Farmsen area of the city, had problems with plants in their front garden for years.

“A hibiscus suddenly looked like it had been burned by the sun,” said Mrs Friebel. She kept buying and planting new plants, but they too soon succumbed to what she started to suspect was poisoned soil.

She told the paper she even took a soil sample, intending to send it off for testing, but decided against it after discovering how expensive it would be.

The Friebels said they had long had problems with the family next door, particularly with excessive noise. A year ago Mrs Friebel saw the man, named only as Peter M., hit another car while parking his, and was called as a witness in a court case.

“Since then he has not spoken to us at all,” she told the paper.

The problems with her plants continued to be a mystery until she found a CD in the post.

“One day we found a CD in our post box. A neighbour must have given it to us,” said Mr Friebel. “When we played it, we could not believe our eyes.”

The paper said there were 12 short films, taken between October 28 and December 5 – all showing Peter M. leaving his house at night and urinating over their front garden.

They confronted him with the evidence and he has apologised.

“It makes me feel sick when I think how often I ran my fingers over the leaves and wondered where the liquid came from,” said Mrs Freibel.

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GERMANY AND RUSSIA

Germany, Czech Republic accuse Russia of cyberattacks

Germany and the Czech Republic on Friday blamed Russia for a series of recent cyberattacks, prompting the European Union to warn Moscow of consequences over its "malicious behaviour in cyberspace".

Germany, Czech Republic accuse Russia of cyberattacks

The accusations come at a time of strained relations between Moscow and the West following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine and the European Union’s support for Kyiv.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said a newly concluded government investigation found that a cyberattack targeting members of the Social Democratic Party had been carried out by a group known as APT28.

APT28 “is steered by the military intelligence service of Russia”, Baerbock told reporters during a visit to Australia.

“In other words, it was a state-sponsored Russian cyberattack on Germany and this is absolutely intolerable and unacceptable and will have consequences.”

APT28, also known as Fancy Bear, has been accused of dozens of cyberattacks in countries around the world. Russia denies being behind such actions.

The hacking attack on German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s SPD party was made public last year. Hackers exploited a previously unknown vulnerability in Microsoft Outlook to compromise e-mail accounts, according to Berlin.

Berlin on Friday summoned the acting charge d’affaires of the Russian embassy over the incident.

The Russian embassy in Germany said its envoy “categorically rejected the accusations that Russian state structures were involved in the given incident… as unsubstantiated and groundless”.

Arms, aerospace targeted: Berlin 

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said the cyber campaign was orchestrated by Russia’s military intelligence service GRU and began in 2022. It also targeted German companies in the armaments and aerospace sectors, she said.

Such cyberattacks are “a threat to our democracy, national security and our free societies”, she told a joint news conference in Prague with her Czech counterpart Vit Rakusan.

“We are calling on Russia again to stop these activities,” Faeser added.

Czech government officials said some of its state institutions had also been the target of cyberattacks blamed on APT28, again by exploiting a weakness in Microsoft Outlook in 2023.

Czech Interior Minister Rakusan said his country’s infrastructure had recently experienced “higher dozens” of such attacks.

“The Czech Republic is a target. In the long term, it has been perceived by the Russian Federation as an enemy state,” he told reporters.

EU, NATO condemnation

The German and Czech findings triggered strong condemnation from the European Union.

“The malicious cyber campaign shows Russia’s continuous pattern of irresponsible behaviour in cyberspace, by targeting democratic institutions, government entities and critical infrastructure providers across the European Union and beyond,” EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said.

The EU would “make use of the full spectrum of measures to prevent, deter and respond to Russia’s malicious behaviour in cyberspace”, he added.

State institutions, agencies and entities in other member states including in Poland, Lithuania, Slovakia and Sweden had been targeted by APT28 in the past, the statement added.

The latest accusations come a day after NATO expressed “deep concern” over Russia’s “hybrid actions” including disinformation, sabotage and cyber interference.

The row also comes as millions of Europeans prepare to go to the polls for the European Parliament elections in June, and concerns about foreign meddling are running high.

Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky told AFP that “pointing a finger publicly at a specific attacker is an important tool to protect national interests”.

One of the most high-profile incidents so far blamed on Fancy Bear was a cyberattack in 2015 that paralysed the computer network of the German lower house of parliament, the Bundestag. It forced the entire institution offline for days while it was fixed.

In 2020, the EU imposed sanctions on individuals and entities linked to the APT28 group over the incident.

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