"I did not consider it possible that the three of them could have used violence against others in the manner alleged here," read the written statement he read out before the munich higher regional court on thursday.
He expressed his sympathy to the relatives of the victims. "I myself am horrified by the suffering that these senseless acts have brought upon the victims and their families."He said he was "terribly sorry" for what he had done. "I want to apologize for that."
Holger G. Admitted that he had supported suspected neo-nazi terrorists beate zschape, uwe bohnhardt and uwe mundlos in their underground life for years. Among other things, he had lent them 3000 marks and left his passport and driver’s license with them. "I did it because I wanted to help my friends. I felt obliged to them as a friend," he said.
In the year 2000 or 2001, however, he had also transported a pistol to the three on behalf of ralf wohlleben, who had also been indicted. Wohlleben put the bag in his travel bag. Only on the train did he notice that there was a gun in it. Beate zschape picked him up at the train station in zwickau. In the apartment of the three in the polenzstrabe, one of the two men took out the pistol and loaded it in front of him. This statement could be considered incriminating for zschape, and even more so for wohlleben.
Nevertheless, he said, there were no indications that the three had committed crimes beyond their underground life. The three had always affirmed that they were "not doing anything wrong" with their papers. Thus he had not wanted to make possible with its driving licence that camper vans are rented and humans are killed. "I could not have imagined such a thing even in my worst dreams."
After the trial, federal prosecutor herbert diemer spoke of "purely protective allegations". It is "not unusual that a defendant, after being confronted with the charges, tries with all his might to put things into perspective".
"That was not credible," said the attorney for the plaintiff’s side, sebastian scharmer, after the trial. Holger G. Burdened beate zschape heavily, but tried to talk himself out of it. His client gamze kubasik does not believe the apology of the defendant. Other representatives of the plaintiff’s side did not take such a negative view of the statement: angelika lex described the statement as the first sign of things to come. "How one evaluates this certainly also depends on whether he is willing to answer questions. All this still has to be subjected to a credibility test."Victim advocate jens rabe spoke of a gesture – "this should not be underestimated".
The trial was ended after the declaration, because holger G. Did not want to answer any questions. The trial will be continued next tuesday. Then the accused, carsten S., is expected to be sentenced to death. To be questioned further.