Dangerous Bodily Injury
Investigations into knockout drops at SPD festival stopped
The public prosecutor’s office in Berlin, an independent criminal prosecution authority. photo
© Jens Kalaene/dpa-Zentralbild/dpa
Hundreds of people celebrate on a summer evening in Berlin’s Tiergarten at the festival of the SPD parliamentary group. The event has unpleasant consequences for several women – and becomes a case for the judiciary.
Almost five months after the alleged incidents with knockout drops at a summer party of the SPD parliamentary group, the Berlin judiciary has closed the files. No suspect could be identified, said a spokesman for the public prosecutor’s office at the request of the German Press Agency.
The proceedings against unknown persons for dangerous bodily harm were therefore discontinued by the public prosecutor’s office. In Berlin, this is the investigative authority responsible for prosecuting minor to medium-sized crimes.
According to the public prosecutor, it could no longer be determined whether knockout drops were actually administered at the time. In nine of the ten cases, the period had expired in which the drops could still have been medically proven, it said. In one case, according to earlier police reports, there was a blood test. According to the public prosecutor’s office, the alleged victim was not available later as a witness and did not release the doctors treating her from their duty of confidentiality.
After attending the summer party of the SPD parliamentary group on July 6, several women complained of feeling unwell, dizziness and memory loss. A 21-year-old was examined in the hospital and turned on the police, it was said at the time. According to the police, photo and video material was evaluated and those affected, guests and employees were questioned.