The police have launched an investigation into the publication of videos showing a man’s fatal jump from the roof of Augsburg’s town hall. “We have videos that have been published on social networks,” said a police spokesman on Monday. “We check whether there are criminal offenses.”
The man, who is said to have been in an exceptional psychological situation, died at the weekend after jumping from the roof of the town hall. Numerous visitors to the Augsburg Christkindlesmarkt saw it, some of them filmed it. “Basically, videos were distributed of the man jumping off the roof,” said the police spokesman.
The officials are now determining whether the publication of the videos violates the right to one’s own image or whether a criminal offense has been committed under Section 201a of the Criminal Code (StGB), the so-called “Gafferparagrafen”. It says, for example: “Anyone who unauthorizedly produces or transmits a picture that shows the helplessness of another person and thereby violates the highly personal sphere of life of the person pictured shall be punished with imprisonment for up to two years or a fine.”
Editor’s note: We are deliberately cautious about reporting on suicides. The reason for our reluctance is the high rate of imitators after every report on suicide. If you feel affected, please contact the telephone counseling. On the free hotline 0800-1110111 or 0800-1110222 you can get help from advisors who have already been able to point out ways out of difficult situations in many cases.