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HomeUncategorizedSuspect 'deeply regrets' bombing Borussia Dortmund football team bus

Suspect ‘deeply regrets’ bombing Borussia Dortmund football team bus

The 28-year-old man on trial for bombing the Borussia Dortmund football team bus last year has admitted to the crime but denied he intended to kill anyone.”I deeply regret my behaviour,” the man, identified only as Sergei V under Germany’s strict privacy laws, told a court on Monday in the western city of Dortmund, where the Bundesliga club is based.

I did not want to injure or severely injure anyone, let alone kill anyone,” said V, who was led into the court in handcuffs.He said that he wanted to fake a plot, adding that the explosive devices had been designed “so that no personal injury was expected.

The dual German-Russian national has been charged with 28 counts of attempted murder and causing an explosion for the April 2017 attack that prosecutors say was part of an elaborate money-making scheme.

He now faces a possible life sentence for the bombing, which prosecutors said was aimed at forcing down the club’s share price in order to reap a profit on his investment.BVB is the only German club with shares listed on the stock market.

However, V’s lawyer, Carl Heydenreich, added another dimension to his client’s story, painting a picture of a man dangerously close to contemplating suicide.With the bomb attack and the options scheme, V had wanted to leave something for his parents in the event that he “departed from life.

I cannot explain [what happened] to myself,” V told the court.An electrical engineer, V had bought more than 26,000 euros (31,000 dollars) of options and contracts ahead of the attack, entitling him to sell the football club shares at a pre-determined price.”The defendant’s plan was to enrich himself,” according to the indictment against him.

Spanish defender Marc Bartra was injured, along with a police officer, in the blasts, after three home-made pipe bombs left by the road exploded as the bus left the team’s Dortmund hotel.The BVB team bus was en route to a UEFA Champions League against AS Monaco.

If several or even all of the BVB players had been seriously injured or even killed, meaning that the club could not in the foreseeable time have participated in national and international matches, then it would have had a significant impact on the value of BVB on the stock market,” the indictment said.

An expert witness from the Federal Criminal Police Office told the court that the shrapnel at the blast site could have proved deadly.A note discovered at the scene of the blasts initially suggested a link to Islamists, and there were also claims that the attack had a far-right or left-wing motive.

However, these claims were later ruled out as greed became the alleged motive.V, who originally claimed that he was in Dortmund on vacation when the bombs exploded April 11, was arrested 10 days after the attack.Following his arrest, prosecutors alleged that V had booked a room in the hotel with a window facing the road so he would be able to remotely trigger the explosion as the bus set off.

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