The perspective of being an accused may be unusual, but he doesn’t let it show. And the scenery should be familiar to him from his long career in the Bavarian judiciary. It began in 1987 at the public prosecutor’s office in Traunstein, Upper Bavaria, and led him back to where he headed the public prosecutor’s office and, since 2019, the regional court as president, via several positions as a judge. As such, he was provisionally suspended from duty in October with half his salary and shortly afterwards retired at the age of 66 at his own request. Recently, he had apparently enjoyed ending his working days in court with his secretarial assistant, who had been called in, and an “after-work beer” or a few glasses of wine. And he essentially ended his entire career in September 2021 by getting too close to this employee once again on such an occasion, this time for good. And instead of the promised hug, he kissed her on the mouth against her will.
At least that is what the now 34-year-old woman said as a witness and co-plaintiff before the district court in Munich. She has to do this because the defendant appealed against a district court’s penal order for sexual harassment in April.
In order to exclude the suspicion of bias as far as possible, the investigation against the accused had already been conducted here in Munich after the presidium of the superior higher regional court learned of the allegation in February 2022 via an internal judicial counseling center. The woman had initially contacted the office without mentioning any names, from her therapy in a clinic for her sleep disorders, depression and alcohol withdrawal. Because after the incident, she only wanted to be transferred away from this anteroom in Traunstein or at least given leave until “the gentleman” retired.
The gentleman. In her statement, she refers to the once highly respected and jovial superior of a whole host of judicial officials and judges only as “the gentleman”, with maximum distance. In the courtroom, on her witness stand, she sits perhaps three meters away from him, but even that is much more distance than she was often able to create between them at the time, if necessary with the help of some kind of file folder.
Now in court, she is the one who apologizes – when she calls the defendant an “older gentleman.” In view of his earlier flattery about what a strong and beautiful woman she is, she “thought he just wants to be nice, a nice older gentleman,” she says, describing the months-long history leading up to the incident.
She doesn’t remember whether he apologized to her afterwards when she got over it and tried to talk to him. Later, through the lawyers, an apology was discussed as a possibility, but it was never expressed. She did not accept the compensation offered of 3,000 euros, especially since the amount would not even have covered the costs of the alternative practitioner while she was waiting for a therapy place.
The defendant does not want to contradict the witness or explain his side of things in court. But he does insist on his right to question witnesses, and his two defense lawyers have a hard time stopping him. The questions boil down to how the case became public and whether anyone in the legal system worked against him. As the defendant, he is not allowed to take part in a legal discussion suggested by his defense lawyers, although an attempt to reach agreement among lawyers in the judge’s chambers on a quick end to the case would be a nice topic for a law professor like him.
He speaks of delayed investigations and serious errors
An agreement is not reached anyway, so a judge at the Traunstein district court testifies as a witness how she too had felt harassed in two situations by her then president, who could also decide her career – once verbally and once with a sudden hug, which she found to be intrusive and “disgusting”. Later, another woman from the judicial system told her about advances that had taken place a long time ago, and another about a similar attempt that had been fended off.
For the incident in question, the representatives of the public prosecutor and the co-plaintiff are demanding a fine of 180 daily rates of 115 euros each. The defense, like the defendant himself, is talking about a damaged reputation due to public reporting and lost teaching contracts and income. In addition, serious efforts were made to reach a settlement, but to no avail. Above all, doubts arose during the trial as to whether the defendant actually kissed his employee on the mouth as she turned away or just on the cheek, which would not meet the criteria of sexual harassment, which was only five years old. They are therefore demanding an acquittal for their client.
He himself makes extensive use of his last words before the verdict, speaking of delayed investigations and serious errors by the public prosecutor’s office and a case that is unique in Bavarian judicial history. Among other things, the penal order was sent to the Traunstein Justice Center unsealed and immediately ended up in the media, which is why he found out about it from the radio. There is “a conspiracy” against him in the justice system. “Someone wants to do me harm, I won’t say who, but I know,” says the defendant, making it clear that he will not accept anything other than an acquittal.
The young district judge expressed “little to no understanding” for all of this and sentenced the former district court president to six months’ probation. Anja Kesting, the first woman, has been at the head of the Traunstein district court since April of this year.