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Ralph W. with his defense attorney before the Aachen regional court: Will have long been convinced that his client existed
Photo: Henning Kaiser / dpa
At the Munich NSU trial, Ralph W. appeared as support for the attack victim Meral Keskin.
But the woman never existed.
The lawyer for this fictitious victim has now been acquitted of the charge of fraud by the Aachen Regional Court.
The chamber could not find any willful fraud, said the presiding judge of the ninth major criminal chamber.
The mandate was offered to the defendant at that time by another lawyer.
An actual victim of the attack had also introduced the alleged victim and demanded a commission for the mediation.
This man, who has since died, made up the victim, the court said after the trial lasted almost four months.
An actual victim of the attack had also introduced the alleged victim and demanded a commission for the mediation.
More than 200,000 euros withdrawn from the state treasury
The public prosecutor had incriminated lawyer Ralph W. in the process.
After the scandal became known in 2015, W. justified himself by saying that he had been tricked by the man.
He was still convinced that his client really existed.
Despite the acquittal, the court pointed to the negligence of the 53-year-old lawyer W. in managing the mandate.
He also violated legal due diligence.
He is now threatened with professional consequences before a legal court.
For the Munich trial he had drawn more than 200,000 euros from the state treasury.
He pays these back in monthly installments.
In the NSU attack in Cologne, in which the alleged client was supposedly harmed, more than 20 people were injured on June 9, 2004, four of them seriously.
The explosive device from a nail bomb was deposited on the luggage rack of a bicycle that the perpetrators parked in front of a Turkish hairdressing salon.
The bomb was detonated by remote control.
The racist acts of the NSU and the murder of a policewoman had been tried for over five years at the Munich Higher Regional Court.
In 2018, Beate Zschäpe was sentenced to life imprisonment for ten murders.
Icon: The mirror
apr / dpa