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Irmgard Braun-Lübcke with their sons Jan-Hendrik and Christoph: They defend themselves against the acquittal of the defendant Markus H.
Photo: Boris Roessler / dpa
It was a concern of the presiding judge Thomas Sagebiel.
He had just announced the maximum sentence for the alleged murderer of the Kassel District President Walter Lübcke - and acquitted the co-defendant Markus H. for aiding and abetting this murder.
Before he justified this judgment, he wanted to get rid of "a few preliminary remarks".
The chairman of the 5th Criminal Senate at the Higher Regional Court in Frankfurt am Main emphasized that this was unusual, but some things should "not go uncommented".
Acquittals were not necessarily based on the court's conviction of innocence, "but on doubts about guilt," said Sagebiel.
The words of the judge were meant for the Lübcke family.
Her lawyer Holger Matt and her spokesman Dirk Metz had announced several times in the run-up to the pronouncement of the verdict that an acquittal from Hs regarding the shooting of Walter Lübcke would affect them.
After the verdict was given, Matt and Metz stood before the press and said the bereaved now needed time to decide whether to challenge the Senate's decision and appeal.
They have now done that, explains Metz.
Your goal is to have Markus H.'s acquittal overturned.
Walter Lübcke's widow Irmgard Braun-Lübcke and the two sons Jan-Hendrik and Christoph stay with it: they are convinced that H. has committed the murder »at least actively by arranging the murder weapon, years of joint shooting practice, joint exploration of escape options at the planned crime scene and manipulative psychological Aid supported «.
The family consider this to be demonstrable.
"Truthfulness of the information provided by the shooter"
It is the opinion that the Federal Prosecutor's Office had taken in the proceedings: Markus H. had provided psychological assistance to the murder.
Senior Public Prosecutor Dietmar Killmer had therefore demanded a prison sentence of nine years and eight months for H.
The family had even hoped for a conviction for complicity.
She believes the alleged murderer Stephan Ernst, who stated in the process that he killed together with H. Walter Lübcke on his terrace in Wolfhagen-Istha on the night of June 2, 2019.
Ernst says that the politician looked at H. and was distracted when he, Ernst, shot.
The widow and sons see "numerous indications for the truthfulness of the information provided by the shooter," said Metz.
The applications for evidence on smoke traces at the scene of the crime and the position of the shooter, which her lawyer had put forward as a representative of the secondary prosecution, had been rejected by the Senate as irrelevant because of "insignificance".
According to the family, "correspondingly obvious investigations already in the preliminary investigation" were omitted.
"Both procedural errors and material and legal errors come into consideration," says Metz.
However, these could only be formulated in more detail after analyzing the written reasons for the judgment.
"Everyone involved in the proceedings - and thus also the Lübcke family as a joint plaintiff - is free to do so," said H's defense attorney Nicole Schneider to SPIEGEL.
“I consider the orally announced judgment to be convincing in terms of assessing the evidence on the allegation of aiding and abetting.
Especially since the Senate followed our plea in many arguments. "
Schneiders has also appealed to check the written grounds for procedural and legal errors.
H. did not get away without a penalty: He was sentenced to a suspended sentence because he was in possession of a deco submachine gun that had not been properly rendered unusable.
Immediately after the acquittal had been announced for aiding and abetting murder, the representatives of the Federal Prosecutor's Office announced that the Federal Court of Justice should review the judgment against H.
The State Security Senate sentenced Stephan Ernst to life imprisonment, determined the severity of the guilt and reserved a subsequent preventive detention.
The 47-year-old was acquitted on the second count, the attempted murder of the refugee Ahmed I. On January 6, 2016, he was seriously injured from behind with a knife.
Ernst's defender Mustafa Kaplan had pleaded manslaughter with regard to the shooting of Walter Lübcke and also appealed.
"At the Frankfurt Higher Regional Court, we obtained the acquittal in the Ahmad I complex and a suspension in the gun crimes," said Kaplan.
“Before the Federal Court of Justice, the issue of the murder conviction in the matter of Dr.
Lübcke to come to manslaughter.
Our chances are good! "
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