Only one defendant convicted in the Barchetsee murder case
Published: Monday, Mar 4th 2024, 16:40
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On Monday, the Frauenfeld District Court convicted only one of the two accused in the so-called Barchetsee murder case from December 2007. In the case of the second, the circumstantial evidence had not been able to dispel the court's doubts about the perpetrator.
The court had no doubt that the 63-year-old Swiss man was the perpetrator. It sentenced the man to 15 years' imprisonment. The 59-year-old Italian co-accused was acquitted.
The district court could only rely on circumstantial evidence. These must fit together like a mosaic to form a picture. Despite any gaps, a picture must be clearly recognizable. According to the law, a conviction may only be handed down if the court has no reasonable doubt as to the culpability of the accused. This was not the case with one of the accused.
The judgments are not yet legally binding. They can be appealed to the High Court of the Canton of Thurgau.
Unknown second suspect
On December 13, 2007, the body of a 27-year-old Egyptian man weighed down with a concrete element was discovered in Lake Barchet in Thurgau. The man had been killed with four shots. It was clear to the investigators that the body and the concrete element could not have been transported by a single perpetrator. But who this second person was is still unknown.
The investigation remained unsuccessful for a long time. Years later, the "cold case" was reopened. Undercover investigators were also deployed. The now convicted Swiss man described the crime to them in detail and named the Italian as an accomplice. The two men were arrested in August 2022.
The public prosecutor had demanded life imprisonment for murder. The defense lawyers demanded acquittals. They argued that one of the accused had simply wanted to show off with his descriptions and had obtained the details from the media. His colleague had been lying in bed with back pain, they argued.
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