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Commemorating the victims of the December 2020 shooting
Photo: Oliver Dietze / dpa
In the trial surrounding the fatal rampage in Trier, the defense on Thursday demanded that the accused be placed in a closed psychiatric ward.
According to the presiding judge, Petra Schmitz, the verdict in the proceedings before the Trier district court is to be announced on August 16 – almost a year after the trial began.
In their pleadings, the public defenders Martha Schwiering and Frank Kay Peter referred to the opinion of a psychiatric expert, according to which the accused suffers from paranoid schizophrenia and is less criminally responsible.
Defense sees "no particular gravity of guilt"
Despite the many victims, a shift in the range of penalties could be considered, said Schwiering.
The conditions for determining a particular degree of guilt are not met.
A delusional patient like the accused had no alternative course of action.
For this reason, it can be assumed that he has limited culpability, said the defense attorney.
Therefore, they did not demand life imprisonment and no particular severity of guilt for the alleged gunman, as the two lawyers explained.
They also gave no information on how long they thought the 52-year-old should be in a closed psychiatric ward.
The defenders expressed their deepest condolences to the injured and survivors of the victims of the rampage.
The defendant waived his right to have the last word before sentencing.
He had also remained silent during the trial.
The public prosecutor's office in Trier had demanded life imprisonment for the 52-year-old and the determination of the particular severity of the guilt.
Because of the mental illness of the man, the prosecution also applied for his placement in a psychiatric hospital.
Victim lawyers, representing the co-plaintiffs, also pleaded for life imprisonment.
Five people were killed in the rampage on December 1, 2020.
There were also many injured and traumatized.
The accused has been on trial as a suspected perpetrator since August 19, 2021.
Prosecutors have charged him with five counts of murder and 18 counts of attempted murder, as well as 14 counts of aggravated assault.
The accused is said to have raced his car through the pedestrian zone on December 1, 2020.
Five people were killed directly, a 77-year-old died eleven months later.
On his way through several streets, the perpetrator captured passers-by apparently indiscriminately, but deliberately at high speed.
swe/dpa/AFP
