It’s a cool morning in March 2018. Bernhard Günther, 55, goes jogging with friends. On the way home, he’s getting rolls for Sunday breakfast, it’s only 200 meters to his front door when suddenly two masked people are standing next to him in a park in Haan. One pushes him to the ground, the other holds a screw-top jar in his hands. He unscrews it and throws the contents in the face of the CFO of Innogy at the time.
The sulfuric acid burns Günther’s forehead, cheeks, eyelids, only his contact lenses protect him from going blind. After the manager has dragged himself home, a rescue helicopter takes him to a special clinic, where he is placed in intensive care. He was released four weeks later, soon he would be back in the office, wearing a headband, further operations were to follow.
The investigation is not progressing for a long time. This Friday, more than four years after the crime, the trial of one of the suspected assassins began. Bernhard Günther, who now sits on the board of Finnish energy supplier Fortum, is a joint plaintiff. It is a difficult day for him and his family, the world has changed for him after the attack, he says before the start of the hearing, from which he hopes one thing above all: the complete clarification of the crime.
A DNA at the crime scene could be assigned to the accused Nuri T
Nuri T., 42, a gaunt man, is sitting in the dock in jury room 147 of the Wuppertal district court. The public prosecutor is certain that the Belgian is the one who hid in the bushes in the park near Düsseldorf and poured the acid in Günther’s face. Police officers found a white glove at the scene of the crime, and the DNA found on it was later assigned to the accused.
The public prosecutor initially stopped the investigation. Günther put private investigators on his case and paid hundreds of thousands of euros. A suspect had already been arrested in 2019 and was released a few weeks later. Günther’s former employer, the RWE subsidiary Innogy, had called witnesses several times and offered rewards, but an anonymous tip finally got things moving again.
Günther himself thought the client was in his professional environment right from the start. In June 2012 he was the victim of an attack, two men had ambushed him. One of the perpetrators wore white gloves, like on that Sunday in March 2018. At that time, too, there was said to have been a scramble for positions in the group. And there are said to have been competitors whom Günther apparently also believed capable of ordering the acid attack. He spoke about it several times in interviews and said he knew where to ring the bell. He didn’t name names.
According to the court, the file situation speaks “with a high degree of probability for a guilty verdict”
Günther considers the now accused Nuri T. to be a henchman, and nothing was heard from the 42-year-old on the first day of the trial. If it stays that way, it will be difficult to find out anything about the background and who commissioned the crime.
At the beginning of the trial, Günther’s lawyer Martin Meinberg appealed to the accused to break his silence. It is important for his client to get clarity. The attack was unprecedented in the German economy. If the accused named “horse and rider”, “we would appreciate it. It would be a piece of moral and personal reparation.”
The presiding judge, Holger Jung, said that the documents speak “with a high probability of a guilty verdict”. On the one hand because of the trace on the glove, on the other hand the accused has an injury that could have come from the crime. He also recommends Nuri T. to reconsider his silence. A confession could save him “several years” in prison.
The Chamber has set aside eight days for the hearing of evidence. On August 31, the court wants to announce a verdict.