BW Interior Minister Strobl wants to pay a fine of 15,000 euros – SWR Aktuell

In the affair of sexual harassment in the police leadership, Interior Minister Thomas Strobl (CDU) will testify again on Friday before the investigative committee of the Baden-Württemberg state parliament. Actually, the SPD and FDP were prepared for the fact that the focus would be on the police’s promotion practice. Now the discussion about the police affair is back in focus. The opposition accuses him of betraying secrets. As was announced on Thursday evening, Strobl now wants to accept an offer from the public prosecutor’s office to end the investigation against him in this context.

Proceedings against Strobl are to be discontinued against payment of money

During the course of Thursday, the SWR learned from coalition circles that the preliminary investigation against Strobl should be discontinued against payment of a fine of 15,000 euros. The interior minister wants to accept the public prosecutor’s offer and asked the CDU parliamentary group to back it up in a special session.

“Contrary to the advice and legal opinion of my lawyers, I intend to agree to the prosecutor’s proposal to drop the investigation and pay 15,000 euros in this connection,” Strobl said in a press release. The payment of money was solely due to the speedy completion of the proceedings. As interior minister, he wanted to be able to concentrate “fully on ensuring internal security.” Strobl would not have a criminal record after paying the fine.

CDU stands behind Strobl

The presidium of the state CDU has strengthened Strobl. “We stand by Thomas Strobl,” said General Secretary Isabell Huber on Friday morning. The CDU parliamentary group had previously backed Strobl, as parliamentary group leader Manuel Hagel announced late Thursday evening after a special parliamentary group meeting in Stuttgart. In the current “possible facts”, the CDU parliamentary group sees “no reason for resigning,” according to the group in a press release on Friday night. The faction said before the meeting that no one was interested in shaking the green-black coalition. According to SWR information, the Greens are also ready to support the Minister of the Interior if his party sticks with him.

This is how the SWR editorial team assessed the events surrounding Interior Minister Strobl:

Opposition calls for Strobl’s resignation

The SPD state chairman Andreas Stoch called for the resignation of Interior Minister Strobl after the money requirement became known. Strobl admits his criminal liability by accepting the money requirement, Stoch writes on Twitter. And addressed to the Green Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann: “How should someone like that stay in the office of constitutional minister?”

background of the affair

Strobl has come under pressure for passing a lawyer’s letter to a journalist in a police sexual harassment affair. The public prosecutor’s office is investigating Strobl. The opposition therefore accuses the CDU politician of betraying secrets and violating data protection. Strobl himself is not aware of any crime: “The information of the public about the content of the letter could have been done better, of course it was not a crime,” said the interior minister in a press release late Thursday evening.

Police inspector is said to have sexually harassed a colleague

The background to this is investigations by the public prosecutor’s office against the highest-ranking police officer in the country, the police inspector. He is said to have tried to persuade a colleague to have sex. He is said to have pointed out that he decides on their promotion. The public prosecutor’s office has been investigating him since November.

Strobl is also under pressure because he is said to have instigated a journalist to quote from the case files. The opposition has been accusing the CDU politician of betraying secrets and violating data protection for months. The reporter is also under investigation. According to the newspaper, he declined the offer of hiring for a fee.