crime
Poisoning trial in Bielefeld got off to a rocky start
Two defendants (front l and back r) in the courtroom of the Bielefeld Regional Court. photo
© Friso Gentsch/dpa
A German-Turkish woman and her lover at the time are accused of having poisoned the woman’s husband. However, the indictment was not read out on the first day of the trial. What is the reason?
In the trial of an alleged murder by poison, the indictment has not yet been read out at the Bielefeld district court, as planned. The defense lawyers for the two accused requested on Thursday not to read it out because it did not meet the legal requirements. In view of the extensive application and since the investigating prosecutor was not present on the first day of the trial, the court granted all parties involved until June 28 to comment. On the second day of the hearing on July 3, the 1st Grand Criminal Court will decide how to proceed with the indictment.
A 50-year-old German-Turkish woman and her lover at the time, a 45-year-old Iranian from Hamburg, are on trial. Together they are said to have murdered the woman’s husband with a poisoned cocktail. According to the public prosecutor’s office, the woman gave her husband a toxic mixture in a glass of water, which she placed next to his bed. When he was dead, she is said to have called the emergency services. The alleged act of April 30, 2022 initially went undetected until the widow made a confession to the police in Bielefeld eight months later. However, she later recanted.