“If you can’t win, at least try to create confusion.” The motto hangs in some offices in a similar way – a 42-year-old at the Ebersberg District Court has now put it into practice. He was accused of resisting law enforcement officials, which experience has shown is not a case with good prospects of an outcome in the interests of the accused. However, he did not let this deter him and extended the hearing to four hours with long explanations and questioning of the witnesses.
The native Russian was accused of resisting an attempt to be deported to Estonia about a year ago. This has to do with the Dublin Agreement, according to which asylum seekers go through their procedures where they first entered the EU – in the case of the 42-year-old, Estonia. But the man didn’t want to go back there, he had meanwhile applied for asylum in Germany – which was rejected with reference to the Dublin Agreement. Which is why four police officers and two security service employees gained access to the room of the 42-year-old in the refugee accommodation in Poing at around 5 a.m. on a February morning, woke him up and asked him to pack his things and be driven to the airport.
The accused did not actively use violence, according to the witnesses
However, the man did not comply, the officials involved reported unanimously. Instead, he stayed in bed and said he wasn’t going anywhere because he had a doctor’s appointment that day. The asylum seeker was then pulled out of bed, tied up and then carried to the car. He put up passive resistance, the police reported.
However, the accused did not use any violence, according to the witnesses, he simply crossed his arms and legs and otherwise did not move. Even when they tried to dress the undressed man, he did not cooperate, after all, with some effort, they put pants on him and thrown a blanket over him, but he shook them off again and again on the journey. According to the testimony of the witnesses, the accused was also uncooperative during the corona test at the airport, which was mandatory at the time, so that his head had to be held tight.
Ultimately, the deportation came to nothing, the federal police found him unfit for transport because of his behavior. The man was taken to a reception center in Munich. There was no further attempt at deportation because the deadline under the Dublin Agreement has now expired, which is why an asylum procedure is now underway in Germany.
The accused sees himself discriminated against and as a victim of a conspiracy
And this is exactly the reason for the whole action, the accused explained in court with the help of an interpreter: the matter was staged in order to reduce his chances of asylum. He even accused one of the officials involved of being part of the conspiracy against him – not least because, as a Russian, he was constantly being discriminated against anyway. As alleged evidence, he stated that there were no recordings from the bodycams and the camera in the police car, which would prove his innocence. Before the trial, he had also submitted an application for the recordings to be admitted as evidence – but according to the court, which had inquired with the police, no recordings were made.
After almost two hours of explanations, which mainly dealt with the alleged illegality of his deportation, the accused questioned the witnesses very extensively. Above all, the question was whether he had been sufficiently informed about the forthcoming deportation. For example, whether documents were presented to him, in which language the police officers asked the 42-year-old to come with them to the airport and how he is said to have answered. Because, according to the defendant, he could not speak any other language apart from Russian – and a corresponding interpreter was demonstrably not present.
The hearing will probably be continued, the accused wants to appeal
The accused understood them very well, according to the witnesses – even if they could not, as asked by the accused, reproduce the exact wording. However, an official recalled that the 42-year-old is said to have said “I am not flying anywhere”.
After a good four hours of negotiation, the accused was finally sentenced to 70 daily rates of 30 euros each. The court saw it as proven that the 42-year-old understood very well what the police wanted from him. In addition to the officials’ statements that the accused spoke English, there is also correspondence with the authorities that the 42-year-old wrote in English. The fact that the presentation will soon be continued in another courtroom is considered likely – the accused announced before the verdict that he wanted to appeal against it.