As of: February 28, 2024, 5:01 p.m
By: Felix Herz
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In the murder trial of student Hanna, the Traunstein regional court rejected a request for bias against the judges.
© picture alliance/dpa |
Uwe Lein
The defense made the request after an email exchange between the public prosecutor and the presiding judge became known.
Traunstein - In the case of the tragic death of student Hanna from Aschau im Chiemgau, the Traunstein regional court rejected an application for bias against the judges.
The representative chamber saw no merit in the defense's request against the judges who presided over the proceedings, the court announced on Wednesday.
Hanna, 23 years old, was found lifeless in the Prien River on October 3, 2022.
A 22-year-old man is on trial for murder.
Application for bias rejected – trial surrounding the death of the Aschau student continues
The request for bias was made at the beginning of January based on an email exchange between a public prosecutor and the presiding judge.
Both are said to have discussed the possible course of events at an early stage - at a time when dates had already been set until March.
The representative chamber justified the rejection of the application for bias based on both the context of the email communication and the further course of the proceedings.
The presiding judge gave a legal note in the next main hearing, which essentially repeated the legal discussions between her and the representative - therefore there was no risk of bias.
Conversations without consequences: “You have to accept”
The lawyers argued that the emails suggested that discussions had taken place about the possible course of the crime.
This should not take place outside the courtroom without the participation of all those involved in the proceedings, i.e. without the defense and co-plaintiffs.
They demanded that the process be reopened.
“It is a decision of the court - and one has to accept it in a constitutional procedure,” said lawyer Harald Baumgärtl on Wednesday about the rejection of the bias application.
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Hanna died at the beginning of October - a young man is accused
On the night of October 3, 2022, Hanna celebrated in the “Eiskeller” club in Aschau im Chiemgau and headed home early in the morning - but she never arrived.
The public prosecutor suspects that the accused young man attacked Hanna on her way home for sexual reasons, hit her on the head and threw her injured into the Bärbach, which flows into the Prien.
According to the autopsy report, the student drowned.
The hearing will continue on Thursday, with the latest date set for March 5 - but more dates are likely to be needed.
According to the lawyers, around ten applications for evidence from the defense are still open.
Among other things, the question is raised again as to whether Hanna's injuries could have been caused by floating in the water.
The lawyers still believe it is possible that Hanna fell into the stream without anyone else's involvement.
The defendant denied the allegations – and is now remaining silent
The defendant remained silent about the allegations during the trial.
He had previously denied the allegations with a psychiatric expert and a psychologist.
The victim's parents have now filed a criminal complaint in connection with the proceedings.
It's about passing on file contents from the proceedings to the press and to the University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf, recently explained lawyer Walter Holderle, who represents the parents as co-plaintiffs.
In connection with the application for bias, parts of the file contents that had not been publicly heard were apparently passed on to the press.
This is a criminal offense.
In addition, a line was “crossed” with the allegedly unauthorized sending of photos, post-mortem reports, autopsy reports and computer tomography scans of the victim.
Holderle said on Wednesday that he had expected the application for bias to be rejected and that in his statement to the court - which those involved in the trial had to submit - he did not see any bias on the part of the court.
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The editor Felix Herz wrote this article and then used an AI language model for optimization at his own discretion. All information has been carefully checked.
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