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Tiergarten District Court: The next instance is approaching.
Photo: Sonja Wurtscheid / dpa
The legal clarification of the abuse allegations against a Berlin doctor goes to the next instance.
According to SPIEGEL, the public prosecutor and defense have appealed the judgment of the Berlin-Tiergarten district court.
This means that the trial against the 63-year-old doctor before the Berlin Regional Court will in all likelihood start all over again.
An extended lay judge at the Berlin-Tiergarten district court convicted the doctor last week of sexually abusing a patient in 2012. He was acquitted of allegations of abuse of three other patients. The judge of the district court had sentenced Heiko J. to a fine of 36,000 euros.
The doctor specializes in the treatment of sexually transmitted diseases, and his Berlin practice sees itself as a »gay neighborhood practice«. The court considered it proven that Heiko J. grabbed a patient's penis in September 2012 following medical treatment and stimulated it until an erection was achieved. The court is convinced that the doctor has thereby violated Section 174 c of the Criminal Code. The paragraph makes sexual abuse using a treatment situation a punishable offense. Heiko J. denies the allegations.
The defense had demanded an acquittal on all counts, and the public prosecutor's office demanded a conviction in three cases.
The public prosecutor's office pleaded for a prison sentence of eleven months, suspended on probation.
According to a court spokeswoman, both the defense and the public prosecutor's office have now appealed against the verdict.
The case was considered the first major #MeToo scandal within the queer community in Germany.
Several men had made allegations against the doctor.
In 2013 Heiko J. was reported.
In 2016, the public prosecutor brought charges.
It was not until 2021 that the trial before the district court took place.
It is not foreseeable when the appeal hearing before the regional court will start.