Police officers killed out of greed: accused von Kusel incriminate each other

Two suspicious men have been on trial for the police murders near Kusel since June.

Police officers killed out of greed: accused von Kusel incriminate each other

Two suspicious men have been on trial for the police murders near Kusel since June. The co-defendant repeated his statement that he had never fired and could not handle a weapon. The main defendant sees it differently.

In the trial of the fatal shots at two police officers near Kusel in Rhineland-Palatinate, the two accused accused each other. The co-defendant Florian V. repeated his testimony before the Kaiserslautern district court, which the 32-year-old had already made to the investigators. He himself had never shot and could not handle any weapon.

V. said that after the first shot at the police checkpoint, he took a step forward to see what had happened. He then took cover in the embankment. For fear of the main defendant Andreas S., he did not give his name to the officers during the first interrogation.

During the act, he also felt fear. "It felt like my throat was constricted," said V.. In fact, he was shocked. Seeing the dead officer was a "disgusting feeling" for him.

S. took notes while his co-defendant was testifying and then, in a statement he read himself, accused V. of having lied at least 195 times during his interrogations. His statements contradict each other. The 39-year-old explained, for example, that V. had described the course of the crime differently in different interrogations.

The statement that he had never held a gun in his hand was also wrong because traces of V. had been discovered on a gun. In addition, the number of shots he perceived and the number of shots actually fired did not match. V. had lied more often, but this could not be proven, S. continued.

S. is considered the main defendant in the process. He is said to have shot the police officer on January 31 at a traffic stop out of greed to cover up poaching. The indictment accuses him of two completed murders, attempted murder and dangerous bodily harm.

V. is accused of joint commercial poaching on the night of the crime and attempted evasion of the law. An original suspicion of murder against V. was not substantiated, the charge against him was dropped. The act had caused great horror.

V.'s statement was already expected for September 19, but has already been postponed twice due to corona diseases of two process participants. At the start of the trial in June, S. presented the situation as self-defense and made serious allegations against V., who had initially testified extensively to the police, but then initially remained silent