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Irmgard Braun-Lübcke and her sons Christoph and Jan-Hendrick in Karlsruhe at the end of July
Photo: Uli Deck / picture alliance / dpa
The Lübcke family did not come.
As if she knew she should be on her own on this memorable day.
Without an audience, without TV crews.
"Luckily they're all together," her spokesman later announced.
It is the day on which the highest criminal court rejected all revisions to the verdict in the Walter Lübcke murder case.
For the bereaved, this means that they have to live with the uncertainty of what happened in the last minutes of their husband and father's life on the evening of June 1, 2019 on his terrace in Wolfhagen-Istha.
Did he say anything else?
Did he fight back?
Did he look his killer in the eye?
Questions that her attorney says will remain open "probably forever."
The relatives have repeatedly asserted that they find it difficult to endure.
At the trial in Karlsruhe at the end of July, widow Irmgard Braun-Lübcke once again asked for clarification that the "whole truth" was important for the family.
Words that made an impression.
Also with Jürgen Schäfer, the chairman of the 3rd criminal senate at the Federal Court of Justice (BGH), who announced the decision this Thursday morning.
Your words stuck in the memory, says Schäfer, the desire for "even more precise clarification" is understandable.
The fact that this was not done with the utmost accuracy is due to the evidence, not a legal error or even the unwillingness of the Frankfurt Higher Regional Court (OLG).
The BGH examines only for errors of law, it does not question witnesses and collects no evidence.
Hatred of Luebcke
The judgment of January 2021 is now final.
The Frankfurt State Protection Senate sentenced the right-wing extremist Stephan Ernst to life imprisonment, determined the particular gravity of the guilt and reserved the right to order preventive detention.
The 48-year-old shot Walter Lübcke out of hatred for his liberal stance on refugee policy.
The judges sentenced the accused Markus H., a well-known neo-Nazi in northern Hesse, to a suspended sentence of one year and six months for violating the weapons law;
they acquitted him of the charge of being an accessory to murder.
On the other hand, the Lübcke family and the federal prosecutor's office had appealed.
more on the subject
Decision of the Federal Court of Justice: Judgments in the Lübcke murder case are final
BGH hearing: Why everything could turn out differently in the Lübcke caseAn analysis by Dietmar Hipp, Karlsruhe
The prosecutors assume that H. provided "psychological assistance", encouraged Ernst in his will to kill, incited him and trained him to shoot.
Lübcke's relatives believe that H. was at the crime scene.
The OLG's assessment of the evidence showed "no fundamental errors of law," says Federal Judge Schäfer.
Since Markus H. did not comment on the allegation, the Higher Regional Court had to evaluate the statements of the main accused E.
In the course of the proceedings, he had dished up several versions of the crime;
the Frankfurt judges based their conviction on his first confession.
In it, Stephan E. outlined himself as the sole perpetrator, and there were no traces of H. at the crime scene.
The security authorities have had Markus H. in their sights for a long time, and he has been involved in the right-wing scene in Hesse for more than 25 years.
His defense attorneys Nicole Schneiders and Björn Clemens are satisfied with the BGH's decision.
Ernst's defense attorney, Mustafa Kaplan, had also appealed.
In his opinion, the killing of Walter Lübcke should be classified as manslaughter, not murder.
From the BGH's point of view, however, the Higher Regional Court correctly assessed the act, two characteristics of murder were fulfilled.
On the one hand, Walter Lübcke "didn't stand a chance against the deadly attack", he was unsuspecting and defenseless, said Schäfer.
Stephan Ernst took advantage of this in a targeted manner.
On the other hand, all political motives are base motives.
"The means of political debate is the word, not violence."
The Federal Court of Justice not only confirmed Ernst's guilty verdict in the Lübcke case, but also the acquittal in the case of the attempted murder of Ahmed I. The Iraqi refugee was stabbed by a cyclist on January 6, 2016 in the dark.
A knife sharpened on both sides was found with Ernst, with DNA traces that could match the victim, the exact probability could not be determined.
The Higher Regional Court was satisfied that Ernst could show the receipt for a knife of the same type - dated three weeks after the attack.
The federal prosecutor's office criticized the fact that he had already stabbed a Turkish imam with a double-edged knife when he was just 19 years old.
While Ernst's defense attorney, Kaplan, is pleased that "the federal prosecutor's office didn't get through with their verbal acrobatics, which had little to do with the written reasons for the verdict," Hoffmann criticized the joint prosecution attorney.
The decision of the Federal Court of Justice serves "to draw a line as soon as possible and to prevent further doubts about the investigations and the actions of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution in the Stephan Ernst case".
With the confirmation of Ernst's acquittal, the attempted murder of Ahmed I. remains unsolved.
He now has to "live with the uncertainty of who is responsible for the attack," said BGH judge Schäfer.
It is "not a weakness, but a great achievement and strength" that an accused is only convicted if an independent court has been convinced of his guilt, says Schäfer.
This also applies to proceedings with a political background.
»The yes to the rule of law cannot be divided.«
more on the subject
Revision hearing at the BGH: The hope of the Lübcke family by Julia Jüttner
Everyday heroes: The Lübcke familyBy Julia Jüttner
Verdict in the Walter Lübcke murder case: the limits of remorseJulia Jüttner reports from Frankfurt am Main
Walter Lübcke "spent his life with all his conviction and all his strength for the free democratic constitutional state," emphasizes Dirk Metz, spokesman for the family.
This attitude also includes accepting the decision, even if it is »painful«.
Anyone who met Walter Lübcke's widow got a feeling for "what a strong woman" she was.
The family sticks together, has a large circle of friends and feels safe in the village community.
She now has to see "how she deals with it."
It won't be easy.