Once more on secret service officer Temme

The challenge for alleged bias brought by the Wohlleben defense was rejected as unfounded, as was to be expected.

Psychiatrists Prof. Bauer and Prof. Saß, whom the court had planned to hear tomorrow (Bauer as a witness on what Zschäpe had told him in their conversations in detention, Saß as an expert witness on what this meant for her mental state), will not testify tomorrow after all: Zschäpe defense counsel Grasel had informed the court that his client will not waive doctor-patient privilege if Bauer is summoned as a witness and not as an expert witness. The defense has now summoned Bauer itself, rather than moving for the court to summon him, for 3 and 4 May – this procedural step likely means that the court will, under the code of criminal procedure, have no choice but to hear him as an expert witness.

Victims counsel for the Yozgat family announced that they will also summon an expert witness themselves – in their case a member of the team “Forensic Architecture” at Goldsmiths, University of London. That team has presented a thorough reconstruction concerning the crime scene of the murder of Halit Yozgat in Kassel, which will rebut the claim by secret service officer Temme, who had been present at the crime scene, that he had neither heard the shots nor seen Yozgat’s dead body (see the announcement (in German) of a press conference on this issue by the NSU Tribunal). Victims counsel decided to summon the expert themselves as the court has shown clearly that it is planning to simply believe Temme’s statements in their entirety (see the report of 12 July 2016). The expert will likely be heard on 10 May.

Other than that, parties commented on motions for evidence, particularly on the motion by the Wohlleben defense concerning the alleged presence of FBI agents near the crime scene in Heilbronn.

That motion will likely again be a topic for the court tomorrow. In addition, the Wohlleben defense has announced that it will bring further motions for evidence. Other than that, there is no program for tomorrow.