There are two policemen and one policewoman appearing in court in Schweinfurt on Thursday. But not, as is so often the case, as a witness, but in the dock. The two men are accused of betraying official secrets and forwarding pictures of arrests, some of them with racist comments. There is also the charge of trespassing; one of the men is also charged with coercion. The officer is said to have violated personal rights. But then it is the testimony of a witness that opens up shallows in the courtroom.
It is the appearance of a government councilor. In 2020 she worked as an investigator at the disciplinary authority of the Munich police. Her task: to evaluate smartphone chats, including those of the defendant Andreas J. There were indications of racist and right-wing extremist attitudes, she says. She opened the cell phone and it started immediately – with terms like “Kanaken”, she describes. And gives further examples.
J. commented on the assassination attempt in Halle by saying that “a few kebab boys had been taken away”, “salmon smileys”, as the witness describes it. In one picture, a surprise egg was shown as a hand grenade. In addition, according to the witness, a reference in the sense of: “Special Edition Asylum”. At least the defendant J. now appears to trial observers as strictly right-wing extremists.
A civil servant who regularly drove missions in the Lower Franconian “anchor center” near Schweinfurt. “It was like a snowball effect,” says the witness, she opened one chat, “and the next one has already turned up,” with other people, she repeats. What does that mean for the Schweinfurt police? Once again, the impression arises that she has a massive problem with right-wing extremists in her own ranks.
The AfD MP Richard Graupner, a former police officer in Schweinfurt, was only on trial in October. The charge was betrayal of secrets. Graupner was acquitted in a circumstantial trial, the judgment is not yet final. The public prosecutor has appealed. The ex-police officer is said to have actively accessed the police information in order to send it to an acquaintance who, in turn, was involved in a procedure and is said to have previously called Graupner an “Aryan friend”.
Improper drug controls
This Thursday is also about betrayal of secrets. One of the defendants, Andreas J., born in 1993, is said to have sent pictures and personal data of arrested persons in private chats last year. His colleague Martin H., born in 1991, is said to have sent a video and commented on the color of a man’s skin with “Off to the cell. Follow the ni ** a”. H. must therefore answer for violations of personal rights.
The list of disciplinary offenses accused by the prosecution goes on. The men are said to have improperly carried out drug controls during their operations in the “anchor center”. They urged a resident they caught to inform them if he found out about other drug users. If he does not do this, H. is said to have threatened the man: “I will kill you”. To do this, he ran his hand along his throat. The judge will later say that this had an effect on the resident.
In legal terms, this means: coercion in particularly difficult cases. In addition, the men are said to have gained access to rooms in the accommodation with a general card – without the knowledge of the facility management. The accusation: trespassing. J. is also said to have seized drugs and kept them to himself. H. and J. are said to have used the previously “recruited” resident as a decoy for a drug deal. Both remain silent on all allegations until the end.
“I just fulfilled a childhood dream”
If there is another offense, the colleague Anna W. comes into play. In 2020, the defendant J. is said to have accelerated the company car in cold weather and purposely drove it through a puddle in order to spray those around with “supposedly foreign origins”. Anna W., born in 1994, is said to have filmed and shared the whole thing and thus violated the personal rights of the people. J. is said to have sent the video from the car to a friend via Whatsapp and commented: “I’ve just fulfilled a childhood dream.”
Anna W. agrees to a deal with the public prosecutor and testifies. “Nobody should be sprayed wet,” she says through tears. You and J. just wanted to create a fountain and capture “the funny situation”. She did not question the drug controls of her colleagues, but could not explain that either. That doesn’t convince the public prosecutor, neither does the “fountain” https://www.sueddeutsche.de/bayern/. “Then why does someone write that he has fulfilled a childhood dream?”
Because of the deal, their proceedings against a fine of 5000 euros will be suspended. What remains in the hall is perplexity about the behavior of officials who are supposed to be neutral. Anna W. has already been transferred to another location from the Schweinfurt office. The two men are suspended. The police in Lower Franconia are quick to report this during the proceedings. Apparently you want to distance yourself from your colleagues as quickly as possible.
In the evening the presiding judge sentenced the defendant H. to one year and two months imprisonment on probation – among other things because of coercion. Andreas J. had to pay a fine totaling almost 5000 euros – because he had sent internal police information and had gained access to rooms in the “anchor center”.