Bomb plot suspects in Germany want to confess

DUESSELDORF, Germany (Reuters) - Four German and Turkish men standing trial for planning bomb attacks on U.S. targets in Germany will confess to some of the charges, defense lawyers said Tuesday.

Ricarda Lang, the lawyer representing defendant Adem Yilmaz, told reporters her client was getting fed up with the trial and wanted to shorten it.

"He doesn't want to go through the proceedings anymore, he is bored," she said.

Yilmaz did not want to be standing up in court during Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting and religious reflection that begins in mid-August, Lang added.

Prosecutors say the four defendants planned attacks designed to be as destructive as the September 11, 2001 strikes in the United States and had identified bars, discos and the U.S. Ramstein air base as possible targets.

German investigators began monitoring the group in early 2007 and arrested it on September 4 that year.

The trial was expected to last two years but presiding judge Ottmar Breidling said it could now be shortened by a year.

The charges against the four men include preparing bomb attacks and being members of a terrorist organization. If convicted, they face up to 15 years in jail.

State prosecutor Volker Brinkmann said he thought the four were hoping to reduce their sentences by confessing.

Investigators believe the defendants were aiming to time their planned car bomb attacks to coincide with a vote in parliament on whether Germany should extend its military presence in Afghanistan.

The Afghanistan mission in controversial amongst German voters and authorities believe the suspects wanted to influence public opinion against the mission.

Two defendants, Fritz Gelowicz and Daniel Schneider, are German converts to Islam. Atilla Selek is a German citizen of Turkish origin, and Yilmaz is a Turkish citizen.

(Writing by Kerstin Gehmlich and Sarah Marsh; Editing by Angus MacSwan)