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reThe car of his choice, with which the former head of Audi Rupert Stadler is driven at the start of the trial in Stadelheim, is a competitive vehicle: a quarter of an hour before the start of the court hearing, the 57-year-old manager gets out hastily out of a gray Mercedes S-Class accompanied by his defense attorney Thilo Pfordte, and disappears without a word at the entrance. Previously, in his role as CEO of the prestigious VW Audi brand, he liked more public appearances.
Stadler is the last of the four defendants to answer for the diesel scandal before the Munich criminal court. The first to be seen in Stadelheim in the early hours of the morning is former engine developer Henning L. He walks down the street along the prison wall, past the formidable gray watchtower of the famous penal institution.
L. and his lawyer don’t say anything either. Then they are followed by an older man with a peaked cap, it is the co-defendant Giovanni P .: “Good morning everyone”, P. greets the waiting journalists, and his defense lawyer Walter Lechner is also more talkative than anyone before him . “The responsibility always lies with those at the top,” says Lechner, making the distribution of roles clear: like L., P. is someone who has worked at Audi according to instructions and now wants to act as an investigator in the process of diesel fraud.
„Faust-Check“
Lechner’s statement is addressed directly to the address of co-defendant Stadler. Wolfgang Hatz, who was part of Audi’s management team at the time in question, should also feel approached. Hatz was Head of Engine Development at Audi and, more recently, Head of Development at Porsche.
When Stadler walks into the hallway wearing a blue suit and backpack casually draped over his shoulders, he greets Hatz with a “punch.” Stadler, who now wears his gray hair longer and parted, is relaxed. His face is covered by a mouth and nose mask that he does not remove until he is on the dock. In times of Corona, the conditions are difficult in which everyone involved in the process has to work.
The Bavarian judiciary acted with the greatest possible caution and even managed to scientifically confirm its concept of hygiene. The necessary distance is carefully observed. With the exception of L., each defendant came with two attorneys. And in addition to Presiding Judge Stefan Weickert, two professional judges and two lay judges belong to the great criminal chamber.
Of “international importance”
The court has selected the modern six-meter-high high-security room on the prison grounds for the gigantic trial, which is scheduled to last two years, and which was built just four years ago for 17 million euros. Nowhere else in Munich is a larger courtroom available. The Bavarian criminal justice system wants to be prepared for any eventuality.
