Borussia Dortmund bus attack suspect could face 28 counts of attempted murder

Berlin: German prosecutors revealed on Tuesday they are seeking 28 counts of attempted murder against Sergej W., who is accused of the 11 April bomb attack on the Borussia Dortmund team bus.

Dortmund’s Spanish defender Marc Bartra needed surgery on a fractured wrist and a police officer was stunned by the blast when three bombs hit the Dortmund team bus on its way to a Champions League home match.

The shell-shocked Dortmund team lost 3-2 to Monaco when the quarter-final, first-leg tie was played less than 24 hours after the attack, eventually bowing out 6-4 on aggregate after losing the second-leg 3-1 away.

Ten days after the bomb attack, a German-Russian, who has only been identified as Sergej W., was arrested after it emerged he was motivated by the hope of making huge amounts of money on the stock market in the wake of the attack.

The suspect had taken out options on thousands of Borussia’s listed shares in advance and planned to sell them at a pre-determined level after the attack when he bet that share prices would plunge.

Federal police have ruled out a possible terrorist attack.

Due to the German legal system, the regional court in Dortmund must now decide whether the defendant can be tried on all 28 counts of attempted murder.

The case is unlikely to go to trial before the start of 2018.