As of: February 27, 2024, 2:56 p.m
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The defendant (3rd from left) is back in court at the start of the trial surrounding the deadly shooting spree in Trier.
© Harald Tittel/dpa
The defendant also doesn't want to say anything in the new trial surrounding the deadly shooting spree in Trier.
At least not at first.
The start is overshadowed by the news of another death.
Trier - It is dead quiet when the gunman enters the courtroom.
The man who raced through Trier's pedestrian zone in an off-road vehicle a good three years ago and deliberately hit passers-by: Five people died immediately, and there were dozens of injured and traumatized people.
Many people were wondering on Tuesday at the beginning of the newly reopened trial about the shooting spree on December 1, 2020: Will the now 54-year-old say something about the allegations this time?
Relatives and victims who might have hoped for this were initially disappointed.
Because at first he didn't say anything.
“He will agree to part of the case if necessary, but not today,” explained his defense attorney Frank K. Peter.
Senior public prosecutor Eric Samel reacted angrily: He wanted to express “his lack of understanding” that there was no admission on Tuesday.
There was enough time to prepare.
The German remained silent during the first trial, which lasted around a year.
Another fatality
The process has been reopened in parts since Tuesday after the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) largely overturned the first judgment.
Right at the beginning of the trial it was announced that a man who was seriously injured in the crime died on Tuesday night.
Consternation in the courtroom.
The 66-year-old died “as a direct result of the injuries sustained during the crime,” said his lawyer Andreas Ammer.
The man had been in full need of care since the rampage.
What is it about?
In the partial new edition of the trial, the focus is on the question of the defendant's guilt.
Because according to the BGH, the Trier judges made mistakes.
The man had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.
Therefore, the court generally considered him to be of reduced culpability.
However, the BGH ruled that the court had not specifically examined and justified the assumption in relation to the crime.
In addition, the Trier judges had failed to examine the effects of the defendant's alcohol consumption in combination with his illness on his culpability.
It is undisputed in the new trial that the defendant was the perpetrator.
Therefore, the part of the Trier judgment from August 2022, which concerns the rampage from turning into the pedestrian zone to the man's arrest, does not have to be dealt with again, said presiding judge Armin Hardt.
“So we concentrate on what happened before and after the crime.”
The man was sentenced to life in prison for multiple murders and multiple attempted murders.
The court noted the particular gravity of the guilt and ordered the man to be placed in a closed psychiatric hospital.
Video of the police interrogation
In order to get an idea of the defendant, a first video from his police interrogation was played in the courtroom on Tuesday immediately after the crime.
When a police officer told him what he was accused of, he replied: "Oh dear." He wasn't feeling well; he felt pulling and pressure in his upper body and head.
He doesn't know how much he drank on the day of the crime.
You just drink when you don't have work, he said in the video - and listed a number of medications that he takes for numerous illnesses.
He has no place of residence, lives in a car and has no belongings.
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Burden for relatives
The new process is a great burden for victims and their survivors.
“The nightmare doesn’t stop.
You can’t calm down,” said Petra Lieser, whose daughter Katja Lieser was killed in the shooting at the age of 25.
Even if the trial “shakes everything up again”: Lieser said she will be in the courtroom for all ten days of the trial until May 2nd.
“I really hope this will be over in ten days.
And that the perpetrator remains locked away.” She couldn’t live with a possible acquittal due to incompetence.
Even if he then ends up in a psychiatric hospital.
Then you are always afraid that one day he will be released again, said the 55-year-old.
“For me it’s absolute rage.
Not only on the defendant, but also on our jurisdiction,” said Wolfgang Hilsemer, who lost his sister (73) in the rampage and whose brother-in-law later died from injuries sustained.
The new trial will also be a burden for some witnesses, he said.
A total of around 60 witnesses have been invited to the newly reopened trial.
What could come out?
According to Trier criminal law professor Mohamad El-Ghazi, the question of culpability is “now fundamentally open.”
In the end, the court could again come to the conclusion that the man was less culpable.
Or that he is not guilty: Then there would be an acquittal because he could not be held responsible, said El-Ghazi.
In that case he would be sent to a closed psychiatric hospital.
If found guilty, the defendant receives a life sentence.
Göttingen University Professor Jürgen Müller is now there as a psychiatric expert.
Whether the defendant will say something or not - for Petra Lieser it makes no difference.
“There is no explanation for this,” she said.
Since the crime, a normal life has no longer been possible for her.
“We miss Katja so much.” A white candle continues to burn in the lantern in the garden for her daughter.
Day and night.
dpa