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It is said that whoever lies once is not believed. In court, this means that after a liar is exposed, at least his subsequent statements are viewed with blatant skepticism and suspicion. This is also the case with Stephan Ernst, who made three confessions: in version 1, he declared that he had killed Kassel district president Walter Lübcke alone. In version 2 he was supposedly an accomplice of Markus H., who shot the CDU politician. And in version 3, he claims to have been on the scene with Markus H., but he shot himself.
The Federal Prosecutor’s Office considers Stephan Ernst, 46, as the main culprit: the one who killed Walter Lübcke with a .38-caliber Rossi revolver on his terrace on the night of June 2, 2019. She has accused Ernst of murder already his friend Markus H. as an accessory to murder, because he is said to have incited Ernst. So far, the evidence does not prove that Markus H. was at the crime scene in Wolfhagen-Istha in Hesse.
Stephan Ernst was advised by an attorney in each of his three presentations. To find out which version of the crime is correct and what role Markus H. actually plays, an unusual procedure now takes place in the Higher Regional Court of Frankfurt am Main: Mustafa Kaplan is asked by the State Security Senate to appear on the bench. Witnesses: The Cologne lawyer defends Ernst in the current proceedings and is subject to confidentiality. His client released him.
Kaplan takes off his black robe and takes the stand in a white shirt and white tie. Describes how confession number 2 came: On the fifth day of the trial, July 3, he received a WhatsApp message from now-exempt attorney Frank Hannig at 8:42 a.m. with a photo of a note and the note: “We’re leaving. from Ernst today. What to say. I bring you this note, but it talks free. “
“I invented”
The piece of paper said that Ernst had received a call at the prison from his wife, who had asked him why he was taking so long to confess. “Just tell me what happened.” And Ernst should say to the court: “I can tell everything and I will tell everything. I owe it to the Lübcke family. I have to think about it. Please understand that I need time.”
Kaplan asked his colleague if there really had been such a phone call. Hannig said no. “I made it up,” the lawyer is said to have said. Just as he invented confession number 2.
Awe in room 165. President Thomas Sagebiel slides forward in his chair, leans over on the bench: “Did Mr. Hannig tell you what items are his invention?” – “Yes”, says Kaplan, “the invention is that Markus H. had the gun in his hand and fired accidentally”. – “Also that Mr. H. was at the scene?”, Sagebiel asks. – “That was not an invention.” – “So you didn’t completely invent Mr. H. there?” – “No, not that.”
That would mean: lawyer Hannig knew version 3 (Stephan Ernst shoots Walter Lübcke in the presence of Markus H.) and built version 2 from it (both defendants at the crime scene, but Markus H. is the shooter). But why? Hannig wanted to provoke a statement from Markus H., who has been silent until now, Kaplan says.
Kaplan says he was surprised Hannig “admitted the lie.” “You can lie in criminal proceedings,” Hannig said. “The defendant, yes, but not the attorney,” Kaplan replied. In the end, Stephan Ernst did not read any of the note. Kaplan says he avoided it. The idea with the note, the fictitious perpetration of Markus H. – that should have accelerated the fact that a few weeks later it materialized: Hannig’s removal as defense attorney. Soon you will also be heard as a witness.
The first defense attorney received an anonymous call
On this day of the negotiations, the Senate asked Ernst’s first defense attorney how he came to confession # 1: Dirk Waldschmidt, 55, once a top activist for the Hessian NPD and vice president of state. A man who looks like his own cartoon and who is one of the best known stage lawyers in the country. Waldschmidt, small in stature, with glasses and a wide cross, makes his living mainly by touring the entire republic to defend right-wing extremists. He appears in a plaid suit and in the presence of a lawyer.
Did you seriously advise a false confession? Did he urge you not to incriminate Markus H.? Did you seriously promise financial support for the family in return?
Stephan Ernst claims that Waldschmidt recommended confession number 1 to him: he should take all the blame and consciously leave Markus H. out. In return, his family would be protected. In questioning on behalf of the US Attorney’s Office, Waldschmidt said he had never advised Ernst to confess. On the contrary: he claims to have found out on the radio, although he had visited him in the penitentiary the day before the confession, which Ernst made without legal assistance.
“Right subculture”
Ernst also claims that Waldschmidt taught him that he had messed with the wrong people: they will finish him off, they will let him “rot.” Ernst, whose DNA was secured on Walter Lübcke’s shirt, has only one chance: to adhere to the honor code and keep Markus H. out. Then the people Waldschmidt is in contact with would support him, take care of his family and care. the house that has not yet been paid. Waldschmidt also denies it.
In court, the first question is who commissioned Waldschmidt to defend Stephan Ernst. Waldschmidt talks about an anonymous call. Then he requested a speech certificate for a preliminary talk, got in the car and drove 170 kilometers to Kassel prison.
The Senate is interested in the caller. Waldschmidt can only give one hint: “No one I would classify in the right-wing subculture would not fit the language.”
Waldschmidt’s comments about driving skyward without knowledge of the files to a potential client who had been officially assigned a public defender at the time makes little sense. Also, Stephan Ernst’s statements, which he is said to have made to Waldschmidt: Ernst had protested his innocence, named an alibi witness and the state or constitutional security department suspected of deliberately placing his DNA at the crime scene. The murder of Walter Lübcke was also “due to real estate agreements with the Albanian mafia”.
“I am proud of my dad”
The Senate postponed the questioning of Waldschmidt after an hour until November, until then, Stephan Ernst’s wife should also release him from the obligation to maintain confidentiality.
The day ends with the mobile phone video made by Markus H., played in the courtroom. It shows Walter Lübcke on October 14, 2015 at the community center in Lohfelden near Kassel, when he reported on the initial reception facility for refugees in an empty hardware store. The CDU politician speaks of a “great world malaise” and of a “globalized world” in which politically persecuted people seek refuge. In the video, Stephan Ernst can be heard calling out, “Who is working on this? Who is paying for it?”
It is the event after which the right-wing extremist scene declared Walter Lübcke a “traitor”. His family sits in the courtroom and has to endure the father and husband briefly coming to life. When the sergeant turned the light back on, Jan-Hendrik Lübcke pressed the button on his microphone and said in a moved voice: “I’m proud of my dad. And he’s right in everything he said.”
