Presiding Judge The order that he was not allowed to shoot?
Lauterbach Correct. The order to shoot the aircraft down is ‘engage’. I confirmed to him both times that no such order had been given.
Presiding Judge Did you have a clear connection? Could the defendant understand you properly?
Lauterbach Yes, he repeated it himself.
I’m sorry, could I have a glass of water please?
Presiding Judge Sergeant, a glass of water please for the witness.
The Guard brings a carafe of water and a glass.
Lauterbach Thank you.
He pours himself a glass of water and drinks.
Presiding Judge Are you ready to continue?
Lauterbach Yes.
Presiding Judge Good. So the defendant asked twice. Then what happened?
Lauterbach The next thing was Major Koch reported that the Lufthansa aircraft had begun its descent. This was confirmed by what I saw on my screen.
Presiding Judge How far away were the planes from the stadium?
Lauterbach Around twenty-five kilometres.
Presiding Judge Had the Lufthansa aircraft changed its course at all during the entire time?
Lauterbach No. Then Major Koch shouted into the microphone.
Presiding Judge He shouted?
Lauterbach Yes.
Presiding Judge What did he shout?
Lauterbach ‘If I don’t shoot now, thousands of people are going to die.’
Presiding Judge Were those his exact words?
Lauterbach Yes.
Presiding Judge And then?
Lauterbach I saw on my screen that Major Koch had fired the Sidewinder.
Presiding Judge And what is a Sidewinder?
Lauterbach A munition.
Presiding Judge Presumably things are about to get technical again?
Lauterbach It’s an air-to-air guided missile type AIM-9L/I Sidewinder.
Presiding Judge And how does it work?
Lauterbach The Sidewinder has an infrared sensor. It homes in on heat sources.
Presiding Judge And that is exactly what happened?
Lauterbach The heat-seeker locked on to and hit the right engine of the Lufthansa aircraft. The plane crashed into a potato field.
Presiding Judge What time was that?
Lauterbach 20:21. Wait a moment, let me just check.
Yes, at precisely 20:21 hours and 34 seconds. That was the moment when the Sidewinder was released electronically.
Presiding Judge And the rapid reaction force?
Lauterbach The two fighters turned away and flew back to base. Major Koch was arrested as soon as he’d landed. Our colleagues from the Federal Police had of course called out the emergency services. They searched the wreckage for survivors and secured the scene. There were no survivors.
But I only know that second hand.
Presiding Judge Did you have any means of preventing the weapon from being fired from the command centre?
Lauterbach How?
Presiding Judge I don’t know, blocking it by radio perhaps.
Lauterbach No, there’s no way of doing that. The pilot can and must have independent control of his own weapons system.
Presiding Judge That makes sense. So the matter lay exclusively in his hands.
Lauterbach Yes.
Presiding Judge And the planes are always armed?
Lauterbach They’re fighter jets. Of course they’re armed.
Presiding Judge Did you report to General Radtke that the plane had been shot down?
Lauterbach Of course.
Presiding Judge How did he react?
Lauterbach Not at all.
Presiding Judge I beg your pardon?
Lauterbach He simply received the message. What was going on inside him, I don’t know. He did, however, order that all recordings of the incident should be secured and that Major Koch should be handed over to the Federal Police. Without delay.
Presiding Judge Yes. Well. For my part I have no further questions for the witness. The facts of the case appear to lie clearly before us. They confirm the defendant’s confession on every single point. Does anyone else in the court have questions for the witness? Prosecutor?
State Prosecutor I have no questions for the witness.
Presiding Judge Counsel for the Defence, any questions?
Defence Counsel No, I don’t have any questions either.
Presiding Judge Fine. Are there any motions to place the witness under oath? If not, then…
State Prosecutor I do have a question after all. Sorry.
Presiding Judge Yes, of course.
State Prosecutor Mr Lauterbach, just very briefly: at the beginning of your testimony you said that everyone in the room knew that the plane had been hijacked.
Lauterbach Yes.
State Prosecutor You said that among you there were officals of the Federal Police, the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Transport, Disaster Assistance and so forth.
Lauterbach That is correct.
State Prosecutor Who in the room decided to evacuate the stadium?
Lauterbach Evacuate the stadium?
State Prosecutor Yes, who ordered that?
Lauterbach I don’t know.
State Prosecutor Try to remember, please. We’ve got time.
Lauterbach I’ve no idea.
State Prosecutor Really?
Lauterbach I honestly don’t know.
State Prosecutor You’re in the same position as me, then: I don’t know either. And do you know, Mr Lauterbach, do you know why I don’t know?
Lauterbach No.
State Prosecutor The reason I don’t know is because nobody did make that decision. No one. Not a single person in your command centre gave the order to clear the stadium at any time.
Lauterbach But…
State Prosecutor Yes?
Now the question I have is a very simple one: Why not? Why was that order not given?
Mr Lauterbach?
Lauterbach Yes…
State Prosecutor We’re waiting…
Lauterbach I… we… we didn’t have time for that.
State Prosecutor Really?
Lauterbach Yes.
State Prosecutor So there was no time. If I look here at the timings which you have given us, then from the first radio signal – at 19:32 – to the estimated impact of the aircraft – at 20:24 – there was time. Fifty-two minutes of time, to be precise.
Lauterbach Fifty-two minutes…
State Prosecutor Yes. Fifty-two minutes.
I have here in front of me the emergency plan for the stadium. Page 438 from Volume 19. According to this, at full capacity the entire stadium can be evacuated completely within fifteen minutes. In fifty-two minutes therefore all or most probably almost all of those people would have been able to leave the stadium.