05.09.2022, Rheinland-Pfalz, Bad Kreuznach: Der Angeklagte (r) spricht vor dem Landgericht mit einem seiner Verteidiger. In dem Prozess um tödliche Schüsse an einer Tankstelle in Idar-Oberstein beginnen am 05. September die Plädoyers. Der Angeklagte soll im vergangenen Jahr in Idar-Oberstein den Mitarbeiter einer Tankstelle erschossen haben, nachdem dieser ihn auf die coronabedingte Maskenpflicht hingewiesen hatte. Foto: Sebastian Gollnow/dpa +++ dpa-Bildfunk +++

In the trial of the fatal shot at a gas station employee in the dispute over the corona mask requirement, the public prosecutor’s office has demanded life imprisonment for the accused.

In addition, the particular severity of the guilt should be determined, said senior public prosecutor Nicole Frohn on Monday in her plea to the Bad Kreuznach district court. If the court follows suit, the now 50-year-old would not be released if he was sentenced to life imprisonment after 15 years.

The act almost a year ago in Idar-Oberstein, Rhineland-Palatinate, was the first time that deadly violence had occurred in Germany in connection with the corona measures, said Frohn. The great media interest in the criminal proceedings proves that the case continues to move the public. In her view, there is “clear evidence” in the process for the charge of murder.

According to the public prosecutor, the accused 50-year-old German is said to have killed the 20-year-old gas station employee on September 18, 2021 in Idar-Oberstein after he had repeatedly pointed out the corona-related mask requirement. The victim’s mother is a joint plaintiff.

The defense’s plea is expected this Friday (September 9). The defendant admitted in court that he shot the 20-year-old cashier dead and said he still cannot explain the crime to this day.

For the defendant, the corona virus was just a type of flu virus, and he had denied a disease called Covid-19, said the prosecutor. He found the Corona measures pointless and unjustified – above all the obligation to wear a mask.

He blamed the then Chancellor Angela Merkel and the then Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn (both CDU) for the situation. In the course of the lockdown, he became more and more radical, he said he “wanted to send opponents to the gas chamber”. As can be seen from numerous chats on the Internet, he repeatedly threatened violence, for example against the police.

The act was to be rated as “insidious murder for base motives,” said Frohn. The defendant was unable to get hold of the politicians he held responsible, such as Merkel and Spahn. He made the cashier partly responsible for the Corona situation because he helped to enforce the measures prescribed by the state.

He shot the young man on behalf of everyone he was angry at because of the mask requirement and other measures. The victim was unsuspecting and defenseless, so the murder characteristic of malice was met.

“The accused was fully culpable,” said the chief prosecutor. According to the report, he was probably “considerably drunk” with a blood alcohol level of around two per thousand, but that does not automatically mean that the 50-year-old was not sane. His ability to control was still there.

She was critical of the “constant delays” in the process, for which she indirectly blamed the defense with ever new requests for evidence. These delays were a great burden for the mother of the victim. And she also wonders whether it is in the interests of the accused.