Murder of Walter Lübcke: These are the actors in the mammoth trial

Kassel: Just over a year after the murder of Walter Lübcke, the trial starts in Frankfurt. An overview of the actors in the mammoth process.

• Walter Lübcke  (President of the Government of Kassel) was shot in June 2019 
• The trial of Stephan Ernst and Markus H. in Frankfurt begins on Tuesday (June 16, 2020)
• We give an overview of the people involved in the mammoth process

Kassel / Frankfurt - Just over a year after the murder  of  Walter Lübcke  (President of the Government of Kasel), Stephan Ernst and his alleged accomplice Markus H. are now on trial at the Higher Regional Court in Frankfurt. Tuesday (June 16, 2020) is the first day of the trial Boardroom 165C. 

By the end of October alone, 32 days of negotiations have been scheduled for the mammoth process. Only: Who takes part in everything? We give an overview of the people involved.

Kassel: murder process in the case of Walter Lübcke starts - the court

1. The presiding judge: Thomas Sagebiel was responsible for several large processes. In 2011, the South Hesse headed the trial of the Islamist assassin who had killed two US soldiers at Frankfurt Airport a year earlier. He was also in charge of the genocide proceedings against a former mayor from Rwanda. 

Kassel: Murder trial in the Walter Lübcke case - trial starts on Tuesday

The 64-year-old has never been in the public eye as much as now in the Lübcke trial . Observers appreciate the relaxed and calm manner of Sagebiel, which can also be tough - even if a listener does not get up at the start of a negotiation, as is usually the case. With his beard, the beefy hobby chef looks like someone who has seen everything in the courtroom. Nevertheless, the trial in the Walter Lübcke murder case could be the greatest challenge of his career.

The scene of the lawsuit against Stephan Ernst: Room 165 C in the Higher Regional Court in Frankfurt is narrow, but meets the highest security requirements. The numbers indicate where the participants are likely to sit

© OLG Frankfurt

2. The other judges: In addition to Sagebiel, four other judges from the State Protection Senate take part in the Walter Lübcke murder case . There are also two additional judges. Your big hour could strike if the process took as long as some experts fear. Judge Sagebiel will turn 65 in May next year and retire a little later. Then a supplementary judge could replace him.

Kassel: Murder trial in the case of Walter Lübcke starts - the main accused Stephan Ernst

3. The main accused Stephan Ernst: It was almost a year to the day that right-wing extremist Stephan Ernst was arrested in Kassel . Police officers from the Special Operations Command overwhelmed him in the Forstfeld district of Kassel. Ernst lived there with his wife and two children. The investigators tracked down the 46-year-old because of a skin flake that they found on Walter Lübcke's shirt and that could be assigned to Ernst.

Ernst made a confession in the murder case of Walter Lübcke at the end of June - at that time he was still represented by Dirk Waldschmidt, who is considered a right-wing scene lawyer and has long been one of the leading activists of the Hessian NPD. After a change of defender, Ernst revoked his confession, and yet the allegedly very detailed statements from it serve as the basis for the indictment.

Kassel: Murder trial in the case of Walter Lübcke starts - Ernst accuses the co-accused Markus H.

Ernst is accused of shooting Walter Lübcke on the terrace of his apartment building in Wolfhagen's Istha district near Kassel in the night from June 1 to 2, 2019 .

In another statement earlier this year, Ernst accused co-accused Markus H. of accidentally killing Walter Lübcke . Accordingly, he and Markus H. drove together to Istha (Kassel region) in order to miss Lübcke's "abortion" after his statements from 2015 on refugee policy. Nevertheless, the investigators continue to assume that Ernst shot. So far there is no evidence that H. was also at the crime scene in Istha near Kassel .

Kassel: Murder trial in the Walter Lübcke case starts - Stephan Ernst's defenders

4. Stephan Ernst's defense lawyers: After the defense lawyer changed, Stephan Ernst was replaced by Frank Hannig, who was also a lawyer for the right-wing scene. He sits on the Dresden city council for the free voters, but connoisseurs consider him an important pillar of the xenophobic Pegida movement, the account of which he is said to have held in trust.

Kassel: Murder trial in the case of Walter Lübcke starts - defender Hannig reports on Youtube

Hannig wants to describe his view of the negotiation in the Lübcke process on his YouTube channel . The strategy pursued is clear: he wants to gain advantages in the struggle for sovereignty. He hosted his first major appearance as Ernst's defense attorney earlier this year in the video. He stood in front of the correctional facility in Wehlheiden in Kassel and gave an overview before Ernst's new statement about the murder of Walter Lübcke .

A good year after the murder of Kassel government president Walter Lübcke, the trial begins on Tuesday. 

© picture alliance / dpa

Later, Hannig explained the view of his client to several dozen journalists during a press conference at the Hotel Reiss in Kassel - an unusual procedure. This gave the impression that there is someone here who could use the mandate to stage himself. In the press conference, Hannig explains that Stephan Ernst denies that he   shot Walter Lübcke himself. 

Hannig is not alone. Cologne's Mustafa Kaplan is at Ernst's side as a second lawyer - and thus a lawyer who has already defended victims of the self-proclaimed National Socialist Underground (NSU) and the Turkish President Recep Erdogan. So seriously - and not a few are wondering how that fits together: Hannig and Kaplan, Kaplan's current mandate and his previous mandate in the NSU process.

Kassel: Murder case Walter Lübcke - the co-accused Markus H.

5. The co- accused Markus H .: In contrast to Stephan Ernst, the evidence against the second accused in the murder case of Walter Lübcke does not seem so overwhelming. According to the indictment, Markus H. is said to have supported his neo-Nazi comrade in the decision. He is considered an ideological armor, who is said to have helped Ernst get weapons. He is also said to have trained with him on a rifle range in the forest near Grebenstein near Kassel . The investigators could not find out whether Markus H. knew about the fact.

A statement by his ex-girlfriend in a custody dispute before the family court suggests how radical the neo-Nazi was once employed by an armaments company in Kassel. So his children shouldn't bear his name. If he became seriously ill, he wanted to blow himself up with an explosive belt in order to take as many "canoes" with him as possible.

Murder of Walter Lübcke: This is how the process will work under corona conditions https://t.co/3BT3T3thxU

Investigators discovered a bust of Hitler in his garage on Waldauer Gobietstrasse in Kassel . "The Little ABC of the National Socialist" by Joseph Goebbels was saved on his computer.

6. Markus H's defenders: Markus H. is represented in the Lübcke trial by two lawyers who are active in the right-wing scene. Björn Clemens was vice-chief of the Republicans after completing his studies in Marburg. In the meantime, the Düsseldorf board member of the Society for Free Journalism (GFP), which the Office for the Protection of the Constitution calls the "largest right-wing extremist cultural association in Germany". Clemens initially criticized his colleague Frank Hannig for his social media clips. Now the 53-year-old has uploaded a video himself to the murder case of Walter Lübcke  on his YouTube channel . In it he criticizes, among other things, that journalists already quote from the indictment in advance.

It was only recently announced that Markus H. is also represented by a lawyer who caused a stir during the NSU trial. Nicole Schneiders defended NSU supporter Ralf Wohlleben. She prophesied to the judges that they would have to answer with their verdict before “the judge's chair of the Eternal” - a quote from Hitler's deputy Rudolf Hess. The 41-year-old, who was known as “Frida” as a teenager in the Heilbronn neo-Nazi scene, has her law firm in Reutlingen.

Kassel: Murder trial in the case of Walter Lübcke starts - the accusers

7. Federal prosecutor's office: According to "Bild am Sonntag" Dieter Killmer takes part in the process for the federal prosecutor's office. As a member of the Presidium of the Federal Court of Justice, he is responsible for civil protection and terrorism criminal law. There will probably be a second representative of the federal prosecutor's office.

8. The Lübcke family: Walter Lübcke's wife Irmgard Braun-Lübcke and sons Christoph and Jan-Hendrik Lübcke are supporting the lawsuit with the co-lawsuit. This is not a requirement, but the Lübcke family made a conscious decision to be part of the process. In a message, she made it clear that she felt committed to the Christian, social and democratic values ​​for which Walter Lübcke stood up . In its sense "we want to advocate that hatred and violence have no place in our society".

Irmgard Braun-Lübcke and the sons will definitely be present at the start. The family is represented by the Frankfurt lawyer Holger Matt, who had already announced in our newspaper that he would do everything possible to achieve the objectives of the co-lawsuit: "complete investigation, conviction of the guilty".

Kassel: murder process in the case of Walter Lübcke starts - the co-plaintiff Ahmad E. 

9. Ahmad E .: In addition to Walter Lübcke's family , Ahmad E. also appears as a co-plaintiff. The Iraqi refugee was stabbed in Lohfelden in the Kassel district in January 2016 . The perpetrator is said to have been Stephan Ernst. The knife caught the then 22-year-old right next to the spine. Several nerves were injured. According to his lawyer Alexander Hoffmann, E. is still suffering from the consequences. The Kiel lawyer already represented two victims as co-plaintiffs in the NSU trial.

Kassel: Murder trial in the case of Walter Lübcke starts - witnesses and observers

10. The Witnesses: It is not yet known how many witnesses are summoned in the Walter Lübcke murder trial . However, many observers are expected: especially at the start of the process, a large amount of media is expected. Because of Corona, only 19 are available in the courtroom instead of the already tight 60 press seats. 41 additional press representatives have the opportunity to listen to the process in an adjoining room.

By Florian Hagemann and Matthias Lohr

List of rubric lists: © picture alliance / dpa