The psychiatric expert, who is invited to the second day of the trial against the self-proclaimed "cophunter" in the district court in Idar-Oberstein, seems impressed by the media presence: "Finally something's going on here," she says as she enters the courtroom.

Eva sleeper

Editor in the "Life" department of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sunday newspaper.

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The accused is 56-year-old Volker S. He has been in custody since his arrest on February 9th.

In an email that he sent to the Idar-Oberstein police department after the alleged murders of two police officers near Kusel at the end of January, and in two videos that he published on his Facebook account, he insulted the deceased and the police officers' profession in general ("Piss Pages").

He also announced that he had founded a "Cophunter" association.

He could lure police officers to shoot down a dirt road near a forest.

The public prosecutor understands this as a public call for crimes, in this case murder.

In the video, the accused, who incessantly runs his hand through his gray goatee and wears a conspicuous cross necklace while testifying, is wearing a helmet and scarf.

The two videos will be shown at the hearing.

S'

Defender then asks: "Can this obviously be meant seriously?" In a brief statement at the beginning, he admitted on behalf of his client: S. was the author of the email and the videos.

With both he was "overshot the mark".

He apologizes for the email.

The videos were satire.

A young LKA officer who belonged to the specially set up "Hate Speech" investigative group says that he and his colleagues understood the videos in such a way that "absolute action" was required.

Into the.'

apartment in Hausen, about 30 kilometers from Idar-Oberstein, a crossbow with ten arrows, a precision slingshot, a baseball bat and a fake vaccination card were found in addition to various notebooks and mobile phones.

The man only moved there in November 2021 from Erftstadt, allegedly because he lost his home due to the flood.

The municipality, however, points out that he no longer paid the rent for his apartment.

The accused had already been mentally conspicuous in January.

He telephoned the police station in Idar-Oberstein that he had identified a child murderer wanted by the FBI;

he claimed the offered reward for himself.

On January 11, officials went to his home.

S. gave the impression of being paranoid, so he was taken to the psychiatric ward of a hospital.

The doctor who examined him determined that he was mentally ill, but released him again.

According to the defender, this "history" is not an excuse, but perhaps an explanation for what happened three weeks later.