Enlarge image
Defendant before the Regional Court of Regensburg
Photo: Armin Weigel / dpa
A 26-year-old man is said to have killed an acquaintance in the Upper Palatinate because he wanted to go back to prison for a long time. The public prosecutor's office assumes this and charged him with murder before the Regensburg Regional Court.
The defendant did not make any statements at the beginning of the trial. Through his lawyer, he let it be known that he fully admits to having caused the death of the 50-year-old. However, he only wanted to "knock him out".
Even at the police station
Rumours circulating in his hometown of Bad Kötzting, according to which he killed him in cold blood in order to "secure the pleasures of a longer stay in Straubing", were untrue, the lawyer said. A previous stay in prison had given him structure and was good for his state of health. However, before the crime, her client had applied to the Foreign Legion and saw his future there – and not as a prisoner.
The man had turned himself in to the police in Bad Kötzting (Cham district) in February and stated that he had killed an acquaintance the evening before. Officers found the body of a 50-year-old man in the man's apartment.
Initially, four further dates are scheduled for the procedure.
ala/dpa