crime
Trial of alleged contract murder in the rocker milieu
The defendant (r) with his lawyer in the Cologne regional court. photo
© Oliver Berg/dpa
A man is shot dead in broad daylight in Cologne. According to the public prosecutor’s office, it was a contract killing in the rocker environment. Now the alleged client is in court.
According to the public prosecutor’s office, on May 27, 2023, the two perpetrators were said to have picked up the 35-year-old future victim and his then 28-year-old partner at a fitness studio in the Mülheim district of Cologne on May 27, 2023. Since the 35-year-old and the two perpetrators knew each other from a “common past in the Hells Angels MC Charter Rhine Area rocker group,” the victim did not suspect anything and had a “friendly” conversation with the men. When the 35-year-old and his partner turned their backs on the perpetrators, one of the men shot twice at the 35-year-old’s head and back with a pistol “according to the crime plan.” The man died at the scene.
Her partner, who was also hit by at least one shot, was able to escape to nearby Böcking Park with life-threatening injuries. The woman survived after an emergency operation at the Cologne University Hospital. Like the parents of the man killed, she appears as a co-plaintiff in the trial. In addition to incitement to the dastardly murder, the public prosecutor’s office also charged the 27-year-old with two violations of weapons law.
The defendant stated through his defense lawyers that he did not want to comment on the allegations. However, in a so-called opening statement it was said that the client protested his innocence.