Around a year ago, I essayed a piece or two about a murder in Berlin. The basic story went this way.
A Georgian guy (not from the US, but from the nation of Georgia)...was shot in a Berlin public park (the Tiergarten, which is a highly noted place where lots of tourists hang out). Based on every single detail laid out by the local and national news....it was an execution. So the story unfolded that the dead guy was a Chechen, who had a history in the little Russia versus Chechnya war. In simple terms, he wasn't exactly a boy-scout. So the shooter? A Russian guy. He actually had a secret identity and this was five-star James Bond type material.
So weeks and months have passed since 23 August 2019.
The German police and Berlin district attorney? Still in a investigation stance. The city political leadership would like a full-up court case on murder.
They can establish that the shooter came from Moscow, to Paris, onto Warsaw, and finally to Berlin....to commit the murder. Those are facts without any dispute.
The shooter? Russian guy....fifty-five years old.
It appears that a court episode will open, with maximum security involved.
As far as locals can remember....over the past thirty-odd years (since the Wall came down)....there's been nothing like this, in terms of 'theatrical' action.
The chief accusation? That the shooter was ordered to track down this Georgia guy by Russian government officials. The odds that he'll admit this? I seriously doubt it. The odds that the German BND (their CIA) will have evidence? It'd surprise if they have anything that they'd like to share in a public forum.
Consequences? That's the other amusing part of this story....Chancellor Merkel has hinted that if a conviction occurs and leads back to Russia, there would be consequences. Most Germans don't care about the shooting (it wasn't a German guy/gal after all), and they'd point out that the fake-ID Russian out-faked the German government once again.
Another odd piece of this story? Well...the dead guy (age 40) had been some type of asylum seeker since the fall of of 2016. It kinda came out as well....that he was on the Russian wanted-list for terrorist actions (member of the Caucasian Emirate). In some circles, it's openly discussed that he killed a number of folks in the insurgency phase of the war, 2000-2009.
Were the Germans aware of his past? Was he granted a visa? Did they know the asylum request was connected to a guy with a history? So far, no one in the German government has admitted that part of the story, and I doubt that it'll come out in the court-case.
So this whole 'mess' is about a dead terrorists who'd wandered in Germany asking for asylum and the Russians finally figured out where he was, and sent their guy to clean up the mess from a decade ago? More or less. And this threat of consequences? It's anyone's guess how this would be handled.
The one last curious thing....in the old days (1970s/1980s)....the shooter would have been recovered by KGB guys in Berlin, and quickly moved out of the city. In this episode....they did absolutely nothing, and the shooter was totally on his own. This kinda suggests that it was not a sanctioned KGB project.
Like I said....it'd make for a great movie.
The odds of the shooter just accidentally dying in jail during the process? Best not to suggest that scenario.
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