Attorney Sebastian T. argued for consequences following the acquittal. (archive image)
Source: dpa
Sebastian T. is a free man: The defendant in the trial surrounding the death of Hanna student has been acquitted. In the end, the prosecutor’s office demanded this.
Presiding judge Heike Will apologized in emotional words: “The collection of evidence shows that there were a number of fatal errors in the investigation process,” he said. This is bound to have consequences elsewhere.
This legal system has done you great injustice. As part of this legal system, I want to apologize to you.
Heike Will, judge
Meanwhile, the judge endured tears and thunderous applause from the audience. The judge’s tears were “appropriate to the drama that’s unfolding here,” said defense attorney Regina Rick.
He demanded consequences for the judge at the first trial surrounding Hanna’s alleged – or alleged – murder, as well as for investigators from the criminal police in Rosenheim, who “completely suppressed evidence”.
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The circumstances of death remain unclear
Hanna was found dead in the Prien River on the night of October 3 2022 after a night of partying at the Aschau disco “Eiskeller” with multiple injuries. Several weeks later, the young man was arrested and later charged.
In March 2024, the regional court Traunstein sentenced him to nine years in prison for murder. However, the Federal Court overturned the ruling due to procedural errors, so the case was eventually reopened.
Now the court has come to a very different conclusion in the new trial: it has rated the 23-year-old man’s alleged crimes as “unreliable.” There was no other evidence against him – no traces, no murder weapon, and “not a single piece of compelling circumstantial evidence,” Judge Will said.
The trial could not explain what happened to Hanna, he said. However, he clarified that the accused cannot be punished.
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Defense demands consequences
The defense – unlike the prosecution – assumed from the start that the student fell into the river drunk through no fault of his own and died there. According to him, Hanna suffered injuries, especially to her head and upper body, while floating about twelve kilometers in the river.
Based on the court’s decision, the defendant, who is now 23 years old, must receive compensation for his previous prison sentence. His lawyer announced further proceedings. They also asked the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of the Interior in Bavaria, which are responsible for the police, to draw conclusions.
Source: dpa, AFP
