January 11, 2012: The day on which Tilman Turck was murdered at the Dachau district court

Created: 01/08/2022, 06:00 AM

By: Thomas Zimmerly

Pallbearers and mourners accompany the coffin of the murdered public prosecutor Tilman Turck from the funeral hall to the grave at Munich's northern cemetery on Thursday, January 19, 2012.

© dpa

Next Tuesday will be the tenth anniversary of the murder of public prosecutor Tilman Turck.

On January 11, 2012, shortly before the verdict was pronounced in the trial against him in the Dachau district court, the defendant Rudolf U. pulled a gun and shot the 31-year-old lawyer.

The terrible deed has not been forgotten to this day.

Dachau

- The 54-year-old insolvent transport company Rudolf U. from Karlsfeld is on trial on the afternoon of January 11, 2012. No big deal. He is said to have embezzled pay for his driver. Damage: 44,000 euros. A routine process that begins at 1:53 pm. However, the defendant behaved unwillingly in the main hearing from the start, discussing it with his lawyer. The reason: he feels that he has been treated unfairly.

It is 4 p.m. when the verdict is given. Rudolf U. got one year probation. But when judge Lukas Neubeck (36) wants to announce the verdict, the 54-year-old suddenly pulls a pistol, which he has illegally, out of his jacket pocket. Without warning, he fires twice at Tilman Turck. The judge, the secretary and the lawyer take refuge under the judge's table. When the shooter notices this, he aims at the judge - and misses him. Two witnesses, a customs officer and an employee of the German Pension Insurance, pounce on Rudolf U., push him to the ground. Nevertheless, he continues to shoot in the direction of the judges' table. A total of six shots cracked through the courtroom. When the men succeed in snatching the weapon from Rudolf U., there is still a cartridge in it. Richter Neubeck manages to get help.Police arrest the 54-year-old on the spot. DN editor Christian Chymyn had left the courtroom just minutes before the bloody act.

After a short time, rescue workers are on site to take care of the badly hit Tilman Turck.

They carry him out of the building into a waiting ambulance and drive him to the hospital.

All the arts of the doctors in the following emergency operation there are unfortunately in vain.

The 31-year-old lawyer dies.

Of the two shots, either alone would have been fatal, says forensic doctor Oliver Peschl later in the process.

Only three months after the terrible bloody act, the public prosecutor is bringing charges against U. - for murder and triple attempted murder of judge Lukas Neubeck, the secretary and the shooter's attorney.

The prosecutors cite treachery and actions of base motives as characteristics of murder.

The motive: revenge.

The indictment is 13 pages long.

62 witnesses and ten experts are invited.

In pre-trial detention, both legs of the seriously diabetic U. have to be amputated, which delays the opening of the main hearing.

On November 5, 2011, the main hearing will finally take place before the Munich II jury court. Rudolf U. is pushed into the conference room, lying in a bed, at every appointment.

It soon becomes clear: he has no regrets.

“You never met Tilman.

He didn't do anything to you.

Why did you take him from me? ”With these words Gretchen Turck, the wife of the murder victim, addressed the accused during the trial.

Tilman, she continues, that was all for her: her soul mate, her best friend, her family, her home, her future.

On November 29, the verdict against Rudolf U. He is guilty of the murder and of the triple attempted murder, the jury court Munich II. U. receives the highest sentence that a German court can impose: life, with a particularly serious guilt.

This means that he cannot be released from prison after 15 years.

The presiding judge Martin Rieder says in the grounds of the judgment that Rudolf U. “murdered the public prosecutor in cold blood”.

For years he had developed an aversion to the judiciary, "which turned into sheer hatred".

The murderer, now 56 years old, dies of multiple organ failure in the night of Sunday, June 9, 2013, at 0.55 a.m. in the ward of the Stadelheim prison.

Commemoration in a small group with the family

Anyone who enters the building of the Dachau District Court today to pursue a criminal trial there should be patient, but if possible not a backpack or a large bag. The controls in the house are lengthy and very strict, the sergeants and security guards meticulous. And the large metal detector, through which all visitors have to walk, takes care of the rest. Since the murder of prosecutor Timan Turck in January 2012, when the shooter simply brought his gun in his jacket to the trial, everything has been different in the three houses of the district court in which the public takes place.

Before the terrible act, anyone could walk into the building unmolested. And that was also intended. "To be open, that was the idea of ​​the judiciary," says today's district court director Aksel Kramer. “But that is no longer possible today. The controls have to be carried out to protect the staff, but also the visitors. "

Bavaria's then Justice Minister Beate Merk (CSU) announced immediately after the Dachau drama that security measures would be strengthened across the country. The Free State gave the green light for 70 new sergeant posts. Another 50 followed in 2013 and 2014. In Dachau itself, two additional civil servants were hired. In addition, private security guards are on duty today. The buildings were also rebuilt. In many entrance areas, gates, locks and turnstiles were installed and window security and lockable office corridors were created.

After 2012, the security staff had "discovered objects that appeared questionable," says the spokesman for the Dachau district court, Judge Stefan Lorenz. Nail files, for example, or a pair of scissors. But from then on there were no more serious incidents in the district town, no one was noticed because of their aggressive behavior. "We are very happy about that," said Lorenz.

The murder from that time is still very much present in the Dachau District Court. A commemorative plaque has been placed in House II, where everything happened at the time and where no negotiations will take place on Tuesday, January 11, 2022, the tenth anniversary of Tilman Turck's death. The case “is still in the limbs of the staff,” says Lorenz. Of course, the murdered public prosecutor will be remembered in Dachau on the anniversary. “Nothing we hang on to,” says District Court Director Kramer. It will be a silent memory of Tilman Turck, who lost his life in a terrible way on January 11, 2012.

As Dr.

Andrea Leonhardt, press spokeswoman for the Bavarian Ministry of Justice, announced that a small group memorial will take place on Tuesday due to the pandemic and in consultation with the family of the deceased.

A wreath should also be laid on the grave of the deceased.

Among others, Minister of State Georg Eisenreich, the President of the Bavarian Constitutional Court Dr.

Hans-Joachim Heßler and the public prosecutor in Munich Reinhard Röttle.

Eisenreich will then meet for a chat with the family.