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The accused in court (archive image)
Photo: Henning Kaiser / dpa
It's an unprecedented case.
The Chief Public Prosecutor made this clear right at the beginning of his plea.
Lawyer Ralph Willms sits in the dock of the Aachen Regional Court.
In the NSU trial before the Munich Higher Regional Court - "one of the largest and most important trials in the Federal Republic" - the lawyer represented a fictional victim of the right-wing terrorists Beate Zschäpe, Uwe Mundlos and Uwe Böhnhardt for two and a half years and more than 230 days.
A woman named Meral Keskin is said to have been the victim of the bomb attack on Keupstrasse in Cologne in June 2004.
But Willm's client never existed.
Meral Keskin is a phantom.
DER SPIEGEL exposed the scandal in October 2015.
"That had a sensational character," said Chief Public Prosecutor Burchard Witte on Thursday.
He doesn't know of any comparable case.
He also says.
"The defendant has seriously damaged the reputation of the legal profession in the Federal Republic of Germany."
With his head down
Ralph Willms looks like he wants to hide himself in the dock.
The 53-year-old lawyer from Eschweiler follows the statements in a bent position.
He keeps his head down, wears a mask and also holds a hand in front of his face.
The prosecution demands that lawyer Willms be convicted, among other things, of community fraud in a particularly serious case.
For fraud and forgery in the NSU trial and attempted fraud in the Loveparade trial, Witte applies for a total prison sentence of two years for lawyer Willms, suspended on probation.
In addition, Willms will be banned from working as a criminal law attorney for two years.
The public prosecutor's office justifies the comparatively mild penalty claim with a lack of previous convictions, but above all with the excessively long duration of the proceedings.
"It could have been a whole other height" if the trial hadn't started five years after the vertigo was exposed.
The psychological stress should also be taken into account to mitigate the penalty.
After the scandal became known, the defendant sought medical treatment.
He is said to be in poor health, but also economically.
With considerable criminal energy
For the chief prosecutor, the case is clear.
Willms acted with considerable criminal energy.
He had not only faked the existence of his alleged client once.
Rather, he lied and deceived the Munich Higher Regional Court for more than two years.
Willms has always presented the Senate with new excuses why Meral Keskin never appeared as a witness in the NSU trial.
Sometimes she had a breakdown in Turkey, sometimes she had a heart attack, sometimes her granddaughter was killed in a plane crash.
Willms should not have acted alone, but together with an actual victim of the bomb attack, Atilla Ö.
The public prosecutor assumes that Atilla Ö.
Meral Keskin made it up.
He had initially offered his mother's alleged acquaintance to another lawyer as a joint plaintiff for the NSU trial.
This lawyer then recommended Willms to his colleague.
On the same day or the very next day, Willms met Atilla Ö.
met in Cologne.
The two had agreed to apply for admission of the non-existent Meral Keskin as a joint plaintiff in the NSU trial with a forged certificate and false information.
Atilla Ö.
has since died.
He can no longer defend himself against the allegations.
Willms, on the other hand, presents himself as a person who has been duped, not a fraud. Atilla Ö.
fooled him into believing that Meral Keskin existed.
Senior Public Prosecutor Witte doesn't believe him.
He is convinced that Willms "with full knowledge of the non-existence of Meral Keskin" has applied for admission of the accessory prosecution and his assignment as a lawyer as well as compensation from the NSU victim fund.
Willms caused enormous damage.
Willms received exactly € 211,252.54.
On the one hand, advances on fees and travel expenses, and on the other hand, compensation from the federal government in the amount of 5,000 euros for the victims of the NSU.
"No doubt," says Witte, Willms acted with the intention of enriching himself.
And also Atilla Ö.
wanted to benefit from the mandate.
There is evidence that Willms Atilla Ö.
Has transferred 1000 euros.
It is possible that more money has flowed, but it is unclear.
Repeatedly submitted incorrect documents
Prosecutors believe Willms knew exactly what he was doing.
Accordingly, the lawyer has repeatedly submitted incorrect documents and presented incorrect facts.
It was not until the summer of 2020 that the Chamber of the Aachen Regional Court had Willms's apartment and office searched.
There the ominous certificate was found, on which the alleged injuries to Meral Keskins are noted.
Willms had presented the falsified certificate to the Munich Higher Regional Court to prove Meral Keskins was a victim.
The real certificate was for Atilla Ö.
issued, it documents his actual injuries, contains his name, his birthday, his insurance number and health insurance.
The copy of this certificate found at Willms' is incomplete, the upper part with Atilla Ö.'s data has been torn off.
On the torn copy someone wrote the name Meral Keskin with a blue ballpoint pen.
The whole thing was copied again.
Willms sent this once again complete DIN A4 page with the name Keskin to the OLG.
The chief public prosecutor brings up one documented oddity after another.
Willm’s client is said to have been smoking in front of a restaurant on Keupstrasse when the bomb exploded.
Sometimes she is said to have stood at the counter in the restaurant, sometimes to have been to the barber shop in front of which the explosive device detonated.
Even a sporadic look at the investigation files for the Keupstrasse attack would have been enough to determine that nowhere a Meral Keskin appears as a victim.
But Willms never claims to have noticed.
For Witte it is clear: Willms knew that Meral Keskin didn't exist and he acted with intent.
He could not have overlooked the numerous obvious contradictions.
There can therefore be no question of negligence.
Should the court nevertheless believe that Willms did not know that Keskin did not exist, the so-called conditional resolution would remain.
Accordingly, Willms has at least accepted that Meral Keskin never fell victim to the attack.
Even conditional intent is sufficient for a conviction for fraud.
Witte does not believe that Willms "in one of the largest and most important criminal trials in Germany never saw himself prompted to clarify the existence of his client."
The chief prosecutor is convinced: Willms' alleged ignorance never existed.
On November 26, the trial will resume with the defense pleading.
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