Victims of an act of violence report again and again what an unbelievable psychological burden the crime represents for them. Many need psychotherapy or trauma therapy. The “Foundation for Victim Aid in Bavaria”, which was set up by the Free State on July 24, 2012, provides financial support. Compensation for pain and suffering can also be granted. Around 700 citizens have received help so far. The existence of the foundation is widely welcomed. However, there is also criticism of the victim protection itself. Filling out the application to the foundation does not involve excessive work. “I really think a lot of this foundation because it helps very unbureaucratically,” says Alfons Hrubesch, chairman of the association “Opferhilfe Oberfranken”. Whenever there are problems with compensation – for example, because a penniless perpetrator cannot pay – he refers to the foundation: “I have never received any negative feedback from the victims.”
The former police officer is critical of the fact that the foundation is necessary at all: “According to the Victim Compensation Act, the burden of proof lies with the victim.” There have been repeated attempts to change this, but so far they have not been crowned with success. To this day, the victim has to prove the act and show that it is the cause of damage to health. If this does not succeed, there is no compensation under the Victim Compensation Act (OEG). “I find it catastrophic that perpetrators are allowed to remain silent while victims have to tell stories,” says Hrubesch, who himself was the victim of an attempted killing in 2004 and is still arguing about compensation with the Bavarian Family and Social Center – a state authority.
Günther Wagner from the Rottal-Inn branch of the “White Ring” crime victim support confirms that this burden of proof is often very unfavorable for the victims. You are basically on the side of the victims: “It is also frustrating for us when perpetrators, for example in a rape crime, are acquitted due to a lack of evidence.” This means that all state institutions must refuse to support the victim: “Because there is no judgment.” In such cases, he is grateful for the foundation: “Victims who have been advised by us have already received several thousand euros there.”
Between 60 and 200 citizens turn to the Bavarian Victim Aid Foundation every year. “In addition to the state and private initiatives, we are the third pillar of victim support,” says CEO Peter Werndl. The grants committee normally meets four times a year and processes up to 70 applications. The foundation is mainly financed by donations and fines allocated by the courts. Should victims be given more credence, even if they have no tangible evidence of the crime? This question, says Wagner, is discussed again and again at the “White Ring”. He himself finds such a reversal of the burden of proof difficult. He has already experienced that an alleged rape victim brought two of her accused men to prison: “They were each sentenced to seven years.” Much later it turned out that the woman wrongly accused her.