Even before the actual negotiation, things suddenly get restless. Photos from the courtroom have been leaked and uploaded in a livestream. The judge had strictly imposed in advance: no recordings, neither sound nor picture. The authorized press is only allowed to film and take photos for a few minutes. “Please put your shoes on,” a police officer says to a bystander, checking him. “We didn’t do anything,” whispers from the group with whom he is in the hall. The negotiation starts shortly after, false alarm. Apparently press images were misappropriated within seconds – by those people who hate the accused anyway.
The mood is tense on Thursday morning at the Nuremberg Higher Regional Court. The “Dragon Lord” is on trial. A controversial internet star from Middle Franconia, an influencer, as he says, who has been provoking, polarizing, entertaining people online and keeping the police and his entire hometown of Altschauerberg in the Franconian Emskirchen on their toes for about ten years.
Not that it’s a big process. On the contrary, Rainer Winkler, 32, is on trial for insults and bodily harm, two days are scheduled for this. Usually, the Neustadt an der Aisch district court would simply have dealt with the case locally. But because Winkler has achieved a certain level of awareness with around 155,000 subscribers, most of whom are anything but sympathetic to him, the procedure has been moved to Nuremberg for security reasons. Large hall, more space for the press and the public. A dozen so-called “haters” are allowed in, because of Corona there are still strict guidelines, but around 50 other anti-fans are gathering outside. They are partly from the area and partly allegedly from far away by train.
The Dragon Lord has been uploading videos on the Internet for about ten years, in which he talks about everything possible, about silver-colored hair gel, sometimes political events, and about sexual practices. He mobs, provokes, sometimes misogynist, sometimes anti-Semitic. He polarizes so much that a whole community of mostly young people has formed who hate what he does, and have not only followed him online for years, but also drive to his home, but want to confront him at the garden fence also provoke, since he put his address on the net in 2014 in an outburst.
The trial in Nuremberg is about seven charges that have accumulated since 2019, insults and defamation, also by the police, bodily harm, some deliberately. Everything happened during such “visits”. The Youtuber Winkler is already under probation. Also in 2019 he had already been sentenced to seven months probation with the urgent announcement by the judge that he should reconsider his internet activity or move away so that the almost daily police operations come to an end.
Beaten with a flashlight, put in a headlock
All the more, one word from Winkler at the beginning of the negotiation makes one sit up and take notice: “Still”. He “still” lives in Altschauerberg, he says when the judge determines the personal details. He later had his public defender stated that he had sold his parents’ house and had to vacate in January 2022, but intended to move out beforehand. Is that the end of the “Dragon Lord” s internet career? The prosecutor doubts that. “There is not only the Altschauerberg crime scene, but also the Internet crime scene,” she says. There was no agreement between Winkler and the public prosecutor’s office before the start of the main hearing.
Several witnesses are heard from the clashes in Altschauerberg, one of them got a flashlight in the head from Winkler, and Winkler is said to have thrown a brick at another. Winkler admits the deeds through his public defender. He also admits insults to police officers. Sometimes Winkler “shot over target,” says his defender.
The trial will continue in the afternoon and a verdict is expected next Thursday.