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Thomas Pekny, director of the comedy in the Bayerischer Hof, before the start of the trial in the courtroom of the Munich I Regional Court
Photo: Peter Kneffel / dpa
The district court Munich I acquitted the theater director Thomas Pekny of the accusation that he had abused sleeping and partially drunk women.
Ultimately, no evidence could be provided, said the presiding judge Nikolaus Lantz on Wednesday.
The judge emphasized that the acquittal for the 69-year-old director of the comedy at the Bayerischer Hof in Munich was a "brief story".
Maybe everything was "as harmless" as Pekny said it was, Lantz said.
"If not, then you are very lucky." The verdict is not yet final.
The public prosecutor had accused Pekny of having approached drunk women at the Oktoberfest and taking them to the rehearsal rooms of his theater.
There he is said to have passed on the sleeping women and made videos and photos of them.
Three cases were heard in court, but the woman concerned was only identified in one.
In one of the cases, the public prosecutor's office had even seen a rape in their plea and demanded a total of four years and three months.
Pekny denied the sexual abuse allegations in the process.
"I would never do something like that without asking first," he read about his defense attorney Eva Maria Krötz.
The women agreed.
This could not have been ruled out with the certainty necessary for a conviction, the court found.
ala / dpa