German court finds four ex-VW managers guilty over 'dieselgate'
Former VW executive Heinz-Jakob Neusser received a suspended jail term of one year and three months from the court in the city of Braunschweig, according to news agency Bloomberg.
The former head of drive electronics, named only as Hanno J., was given a sentence of two years and seven months, German media reported.
The heaviest sentence of four years and six months was given to the former head of diesel motor development, Jens H., while the fourth defendant was given a suspended sentence of one year and 10 months.
The defendants can appeal against the rulings.
The separate trial of former Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn remains suspended because of his ill health.
Auto sector analyst Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer, head of the Center Automotive Research, judged that the case had for now ended "with scapegoats and, in some cases, suspended sentences".
Volkswagen said in a statement that the "proceedings in the court in Braunschweig are against individuals" and that they had "no significant consequences for the cases before the civil courts that Volkswagen is involved in" related to the scandal.
The four found guilty on Monday, who have been on trial since 2021, were initially set to have their cases heard alongside that of Winterkorn.
But the court decided to split off proceedings against Winterkorn, who was unable to appear because of ill health.
The former auto executive finally went on trial in September before the court again suspended proceedings in October, when he was not fit to take the stand.
The highest-ranking former executive to have been convicted in the scandal so far is former Audi CEO Rupert Stadler.
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He was was fined and given a suspended sentence in 2023 after admitting to fraud by negligence.
In February, prosecutors in France called for Volkswagen to face charges of aggravated fraud there too.
They said nearly one million French customers had to pay for servicing and repairs after the emissions breach was revealed.
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DW
17 hours ago
- DW
No more German visas for Kremlin critics fleeing Russia? – DW – 08/17/2025
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The drawing showed Russia firing rockets at Ukraine, with a mother standing in front of a child, holding up a hand to ward them off. Masha Moskaleva from the Russian region of Tula was 13 years old when she did the drawing in an art class in the spring of 2022, not long after the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The drawing was seized on by the international media after the Russian authorities took an interest in it. According to the girl's father, Alexei Moskalev, the school administration reported the drawing to the police, and Masha was interviewed by members of Russia's domestic intelligence service, the FSB. In 2023, Moskalev was sentenced to two years in prison. The court found him guilty of discrediting the army in anti-war comments he was said to have made on a Russian social network, Odnoklassniki. State authorities sent his daughter Masha to an orphanage before later handing her over to her mother, who had been estranged from the family for several years. Moskalev left Russia after his release from prison in October 2024, as he was in danger of being arrested again. "When I was in prison, in Vladimir Putin's dungeons, FSB officers came to see me twice," he says. "They always stressed, at the end of our conversation, 'We're not going to leave you alone, even after you're released.'" To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Anton K. (name changed for security reasons) left Russia at the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Back home, the former activist and journalist worked with publications branded "foreign agents" by the authorities. Today, he works for an online medium whose editor-in-chief is in custody, accused of inciting terrorism. Anton K. also took part in anti-Kremlin protests, and was arrested many times in consequence. Russia's "Center for Combating Extremism" took his fingerprints so that, if necessary, it could find him more easily. Like Alexei Moskalev, Anton K. is also currently in one of the CIS states. The Commonwealth of Independent States is an organization of Soviet Union successor states, and in addition to Russia it consists of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Lawyer Anastasia Burakova is the founder of Kovcheg, the Ark Project that supports Russian dissidents abroad. She told DW that it was dangerous for opponents of the regime to stay in these countries long-term. "There's always the risk of an extradition request from Russia if a person is wanted in a politically motivated case," Burakova says. "There are abduction attempts, like those we've seen in Armenia, but there are also successful abductions, as in Kyrgyzstan; those people ended up in Russian prisons." To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Anton K. and Alexei Moskalev were very aware of these risks, so they applied for humanitarian visas for Germany, along with some 300 other Russians and Belarusians. German authorities can issue this visa to independent journalists, activists, and politicians who are persecuted in their home countries. According to The Ark, around 2,600 people from Russia have been granted these visas for Germany in the past three-and-a-half years of the war. "More than 2,600 people have been given the chance to come to a safe place, to evade a Russian prison sentence, torture, and persecution for their civil society activism and their opposition to the war," Anastasia Burakova stresses. At the end of July this year, Germany's Ministry of the Interior announced that it was suspending the humanitarian visa program. 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According to the independent Russian news portal The Bell, which operates outside the country, around 700,000 people have left Russia since the start of its all-out war against Ukraine.
DW
2 days ago
- DW
Germany updates: Merz backs possible Putin-Zelenskyy meeting – DW – 08/16/2025
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Local Germany
2 days ago
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Inside Germany: A shake-up at Deutsche Bahn and tips for the summer heat
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