Friedrich Pürner comes into the courtroom tanned, his long hair tied back. He doesn’t seem like a man who is exposed to excessive stress, but apparently that’s exactly one of the points that bothers him: the former head of the Aichach-Friedberg health department, who, after persistent criticism of the state government’s corona measures, died about two years ago Years ago, who was transferred from his post and now works as examination chairman for prospective doctors in the government of Upper Bavaria, is suing against his secondment. And he complains that he does not think he has an appropriate position. He doubts that his current job matches his qualifications.
As a public health officer, Pürner tangled with the Free State in the first year of the corona pandemic. Again and again he complained about what he saw as excessive measures against the pandemic: he criticized the obligation to wear masks, the lockdowns, the orientation towards the incidences and also the vaccination campaigns. Most of the time, his statements contradicted the prevailing scientific opinion in Germany, but he still saw himself as a victim of politics. He called his secondment, initially to the State Office for Health and Food Safety (LGL), a punitive transfer. “An example should be made of him so that no other medical officers complain” about the measures taken by the state government, he explained.
Beyond the immediate points of contention, this procedure is primarily about the question of what a head of authority in Bavaria is allowed to say. However, this is not being discussed in the Augsburg administrative court on Thursday, instead Pürner himself and through his lawyer argue that he feels “put on the sidelines”. He was politically burned and had little chance of working as a medical officer. He has currently applied for a position with the government of Upper Bavaria as head of the department responsible for the health authorities in the government district. Apparently, the LGL, to which he was initially transferred, gave him such a bad assessment that the application has little chance of success. He has now also filed a lawsuit against this assessment.
Pürner has always emphasized that neither the so-called lateral thinkers nor right-wing extremists are close. He never denied Corona, but as an expert he criticizes Corona measures. No one can doubt that Pürner is a specialist: he was not only head of the health department in Aichach, but also headed the epidemiology department at the LGL before this position and was head of an infectiology task force. However, he repeatedly used questionable and right-wing platforms to bring his theses to the public. On Twitter, he repeatedly linked to texts from blogs that are important sources of disinformation about Covid-19 in Germany. Pürner is currently working repeatedly on Health Minister Karl Lauterbach’s vaccination campaign. “The solidarity appeal to get vaccinated to protect your loved ones and society was one of the biggest lies since the pandemic,” it says, among other things.
The Free State, it became clear during the hearing, does not want him to be with the government of Upper Bavaria right away. His secondment to the LGL was not a punitive transfer, so the argument goes. Pürner had already worked at the LGL and should have set up a new department there. He is also paid appropriately. Even the judge noted that in his eyes a punitive transfer looks different. The Free State as the defendant also points out that it did not communicate the delegation to the press and the public, which Pürner denies. Pürner’s accusation that he was stigmatized and thus wanted to be rehabilitated is in vain.
The presiding judge wanted to know whether there was still a possibility of an amicable agreement and interrupted the hearing so that the parties could talk. The Free State suggests that Pürner withdraw his current application, then the negative assessment by the LGL would be irrelevant. With further applications he would then have better chances, it was said.
Pürner sees it this way: The Free State no longer wants him in a position in public health, but for him there is no alternative. Finally, the court suspended the hearing and the parties agreed to hold talks again. They should take place shortly before Christmas.