Kassel: Seniors are on trial because they wanted to help a man on the ground

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Accused senior citizen carrier and scratch

Photo: HC Plambeck / DER SPIEGEL

The taking of evidence has not even begun when Judge Michael Reichhardt begins what he calls a "comment": The chairman of the 7th criminal chamber at the Kassel regional court asks the parties involved in the process whether there are "other options", "the cow." to bring from the ice «.

The cow, in this case, is a strange kind of criminal trial. And the "possibility" that Judge Reichhardt suggests this morning in room E 221 is: annulment of the judgment of the lower court, termination of the proceedings. But the accused refuse by return of post. They are convinced of their innocence, do not want to be left with the costs of this procedure - and therefore demand a real acquittal.

The defendants in this case are two seniors: Gerhard Kratz, a 66-year-old pensioner, and the 81-year-old Hans Otto porter are said to have tried to avoid punishment two years ago. According to the prosecutor, they wanted to use force to prevent a criminal from being brought to justice. The Kassel District Court imposed fines: 9,000 euros for the former architect, 4500 for the former physiotherapist and stage master Kratz.

What exactly is this case about? On May 4, 2019, according to the ruling of the local court, the two seniors took massive action against two shop detectives who had caught and fixed a thief in downtown Kassel. While bystanders insulted the detectives, Gerhard Kratz hit one of the men in the back, according to the indictment, and Hans-Otto porters were also violent. During the scramble, the thief managed to bite one of the two security guards in the leg before the police finally intervened.

The seniors vehemently deny this version of the incident.

They didn't even see the shoplifting at the time, they just wanted to help: The young man on the floor had difficulty breathing because his pursuers had brutally held him and pulled his breath away.

From the point of view of the defendants, it was not about preventing punishment or helping people to escape.

It's about help, about solidarity.

"George Floyd might still be alive if people like us had intervened in time," says the defendant Kratz.

For him and the porter, both of whom see themselves as politically left-wing, it is a question of principle that could be summarized as follows: Since when should moral courage be punishable by law?

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Cell phone recordings: Printed in poster size

Photo: Gerhard Kratz

In the trial at the regional court on this day, however, it is not about questions of principle, but about details. Kratz has printed a poster-sized photo that he took during the situation in question, and now everyone involved in the process bends over it. The seniors see this as proof that the detectives pulled the breath off the thief. Judge Reichhardt points out that the security guards might just fix the man's hands on his chest. A lay judge, on the other hand, claims to have recognized a hand of the thief in a completely different place. What is clear is that everything is somehow unclear.

Kratz sticks to his version.

"You don't fix like that!" He called to the detectives and grabbed one of the two arms to pull him away.

"One of them held his throat shut and the other also pressed his neck." However, Kratz cannot really understand exactly what happened in which order.

He is obviously excited, gets tangled up in his memories and repeats: "He fought for his life!"

Bearer also protests his innocence and his noble intentions: Perhaps he was a little wrong in tone at the time, he now says - and makes no secret of the fact that he felt sorry for the thief, an Iranian named Mohamad A. Possibly, so cautiously phrased Wear it now, he said something like: "You damned xenophobes, leave the man alone!"

"They were insecurity people, bullies"

He was palpably not become, insists the 81-year-old, and then he is always: "I did not mind that thieves are arrested, but

so

not," he says.

"These security people were insecurity people, they were bullies."

Porter's appearance is fiery, but not really helpful for an explanation, on the one hand.

On the other hand: The 81-year-old wears a hearing aid, can only walk extremely slowly after a thigh fracture, and seems generally ailing.

This man is said to have massively attacked two young security guards?

Would the two seniors have even had a chance to actually help the shoplifter escape?

Many unanswered questions remain, and the man at the center of the case does not provide any really reliable answers either: Mohamad A., who has since been convicted of the theft at the time, sees himself as a victim.

The detectives pulled the breath off, he says.

Thereupon bystanders interfered: "Do you want to kill him?" One of the senior citizens said and slammed.

The thief admits to having bitten the detectives

Which of the two defendants was that?

He can't say for sure, says the 26-year-old.

What kind of punch was that exactly?

If he doesn't remember anymore, maybe it was also a kick.

Was he aggressive himself?

No, protests Mohamad A. - and later admits to having bitten one of the detectives in the thigh.

Seven more testimonies are planned for this day.

Should they turn out to be similar to that of the young Iranian, probably nothing about this case would be clearer than before.

But it turns out differently.

Mohamad A. has only just left the room when Kratz's lawyer Nils Spörkel turns to Judge Reichhardt: One can imagine a closure of the proceedings, he says, on one condition: the state must bear the costs of the proceedings.

Less than ten minutes later, Reichhardt announced the decision: "The proceedings are over."

The seniors turn around

Why have the seniors changed their strategy within a short period of time?

One did not want to accept an "unnecessary risk", says Kratz - and by that he obviously means statements like those of Mohamad A., who had also burdened the two seniors.

The judgment of the district court is thus overturned, the two men are still legally innocent.

Carrier still speaks of a "second class acquittal", but he also says: "I very much agree with the result."

Then the seniors walk out of the courthouse, they laugh.