By Matthew Becker
The process of the arson attacks in Berlin-Neukölln is being reopened. Attorney General Margarete Koppers (62) has now personally written the 26-page appeal and submitted it to the Tiergarten district court.
BZ learned this exclusively from judicial circles. The reasoning of Berlin’s top prosecutor: “An overall view of all the evidence leaves no room for doubt about the perpetrators…”
Ex-AfD member Tilo P. (40) now has to appear in court again. He was accused of being a lookout on February 1, 2017, when left-wing politician Ferat Kocak (44)’s car was torched.
The fire night of Neukölln: Here the Mercedes of left-wing politician Ferat Kocak burns Photo: Private
In December 2022, Tilo P. was acquitted of the charge of arson for lack of evidence. Judge Ulrike Hauser was not enough for an unequivocal conviction.
Tilo P. was only sentenced to a fine (4500 euros) for eight times property damage.
In her appeal statement, lawyer Margarete Koppers herself stated that there were no witnesses to the arson and that no DNA traces of Tilo P. were found. Only suspicious Google queries about the places of residence of the politician Kocak and a WhatsApp message with the left-wing politician’s car registration number could be assigned to P.
Koppers is convinced: “The overall view shows that the accused acted in a timely and purposeful manner after gaining knowledge of the license plate number and the place of residence …”
For the Attorney General, Tilo P. was acquitted “on the basis of an incomplete assessment of the evidence using excessive requirements” by the court. Koppers did not announce any new evidence or clues.
Tilo P.’s lawyer sees a politically motivated process. Defender Mirko Röder (58) to BZ: “The vocation is poetry and legal verbal acrobatics.”
To prove the political influence, Röder will summon the former Secretary of State for the Interior, Torsten Akmann (58): “The police investigator has repeatedly confirmed that he has been put under pressure by the Secretary of State.” The exact date of the new trial has not yet been set .