Trial against the second masked man begins
In 2018, the then Innogy manager Bernhard Günther was attacked with acid. Almost six years later, a second suspect has to stand trial. It is still unclear who ordered the gruesome attack.
Bernhard Günther was on his way home after a Sunday jog with a bag of rolls when two masked men ambushed him in Haan near Düsseldorf. They poured highly concentrated sulphuric acid over the manager, severely cauterizing him. That was almost six years ago. One of the perpetrators has now been sentenced to twelve years in prison. Now another trial is about to begin at the regional court, in which a 36-year-old man will have to answer for his actions. He is alleged to have been the second masked man.
The 36-year-old had already been arrested once, Günther had even testified that he recognized him. Nevertheless, the man was released again because there was not enough evidence. But last spring, the handcuffs clicked again. Investigators and the judiciary have so far remained tight-lipped about what made the suspicions against him so strong. Just this much: the Belgian, who had already been convicted, mentioned names in his courtroom testimony and described things that gave rise to further investigations, says a spokeswoman for the public prosecutor's office. The presiding judge had already hinted at this in his reasons for the verdict: circumstances had come to light according to which Günther could have been right in recognizing the other man after all.
The judges cannot expect a confession. So far, the accused has remained silent about the allegations and is likely to continue to do so. "The charges are based solely on circumstantial evidence," says his defense lawyer Urban Slamal.
In contrast to the first trial, Bernhard Günter wants to stay away from the proceedings for the time being. "He wants to wait until he has completed his testimony on January 11," says his lawyer Martin Meinberg.
Who is behind the attack?
The aim is still to uncover who ordered the dastardly attack. He is not giving up hope, says Meinberg. After all, the proceedings had already been discontinued and now another suspected accomplice is facing a long prison sentence. The tip-off about the accused and the convicted man had come from an unknown whistleblower who had provided the names in return for substantial payments of more than 150,000 euros. The energy company Innogy, where Günther was CFO at the time of the crime, had offered a large reward for the arrest of the perpetrators after the crime.
Günther, now 56, had to undergo several operations. Eyelids and parts of his facial skin were transplanted. According to Günther's lawyer Martin Meinberg, the attack was aimed at eliminating Günther as a professional competitor. At the time, Günther was head of finance at the energy company Innogy, which was taken over by the Eon Group a few days later. He suspected a client from his professional environment as the mastermind, but did not give a name. Meinberg said that such an act was unique in business life.
The potential aim of the attack, to ruin Günther's future as a top manager, was not achieved: he returned to his position on the Executive Board after the attack. He is now CFO of the Finnish energy group Fortum, which employs more than 19,000 people.
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Source: www.ntv.de
