process
Reemtsma kidnapper Drach sentenced to 15 years in prison
Under the highest security precautions, the defendant Thomas Drach (2nd from right) was flown from the Ossendorf prison to his trial in the Cologne regional court. photo
© Thomas Banneyer/dpa
After exactly 100 days of negotiations, the mammoth trial against Thomas Drach is over. The Cologne regional court sends Germany’s most famous criminal to prison for a long time.
The judge has just officially closed the session when the defendant speaks again: “I would like to file an appeal now,” shouts Thomas Dragon. But judge Jörg Michael Bern answers curtly: “I won’t accept that.” You have to do this in writing to the office. Justice officials then lead Drach out of the Cologne district court room where he spent 100 days of trial.
That morning, the Reemtsma kidnapper claimed a “crystal clear acquittal” in his “last word”. He had nothing to do with the accused money transport robberies. But the verdict of the 21st Large Criminal Chamber on Thursday fully corresponds to the prosecutor’s request: 15 years’ imprisonment and subsequent preventive detention. It is questionable whether the 63-year-old will ever be released again in his life.
Three cash-in-transit vehicles were robbed
The chamber convicted Drach of, among other things, aggravated robbery and attempted murder. The court is convinced that he robbed three cash-in-transit vehicles in Cologne and Frankfurt am Main in 2018 and 2019 and stole a total of around 142,000 euros. In two of the attacks, he shot at the money messengers – in one case with a Kalashnikov – and seriously injured the two men. “In achieving his goal of getting money as quickly as possible, he didn’t care at all about the welfare or woe of the victims,” says Bern.
In its judgment, the court relies on a variety of evidence that, taken together, creates “a coherent overall picture.” According to the report, video recordings of the crimes showed that the masked perpetrator was most likely Drach. There is a connection to Drach in all of the getaway vehicles used, and his DNA was found on one of the cars. A former fellow prisoner testified that Drach had told him about the crimes. According to Bern, the only thing that could not be proven was an attack in Limburg, Hesse, which was also accused.
Mammoth process under strong security precautions
The verdict ended a mammoth trial that lasted almost two years, took place under strong security precautions and caused immense costs. Police officers cordoned off the streets around the courthouse on every day of the trial. Drach was usually flown over by helicopter from the Cologne correctional facility.
In the search for an appropriate punishment, the chamber was able to throw practically nothing into the balance in Drach’s favor, says Bern: “We tried hard, but we hardly found anything.” On the other hand, there is a lot to the defendant’s detriment, such as the dangerous nature of the crimes and his lack of empathy for the victims. Drach’s numerous previous convictions – he has spent a total of 25 years in prison – had left no impression on him.
Fourteen and a half years in prison for Reemtsma kidnapping
Drach, who came from a middle-class family in Erftstadt near Cologne, was sentenced to fourteen and a half years in prison for the kidnapping of Jan Philipp Reemtsma alone. In 1996 he kidnapped the heir to the Hamburg tobacco dynasty Reemtsma and released him after 33 days – for a ransom of 15 million German marks and 12.5 million Swiss francs.
Since Drach represents a danger to the general public, the German should be in preventive detention after serving his current prison sentence. “There is a deeply ingrained pattern of delinquency in him,” says Bern. Drach’s ultimate goal has always been to live “a life of luxury” – but without having to make any effort for it.