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Feldmann as a defendant in the Frankfurt district court: "That's true"
Photo: POOL / REUTERS
Attorney David Hofferbert read out a statement for a good two hours on the second day of the hearing, which is intended to exonerate his client from criminal charges.
Peter Feldmann, 64, accused of taking advantage in office, meanwhile sat between his two defense attorneys, nodded now and then and otherwise often looked at the ceiling or in the direction of the audience on the fully occupied spectator benches in the Frankfurt am Main district court.
In terms of content, he only expressed himself in a single short sentence when he was asked by the presiding judge towards the end of the trial date whether his lawyer's statements were correct and correct.
"That's correct," said Feldmann.
It is a delicate course that Feldmann and his lawyers have embarked on.
Legally, it may help him to distance himself as much as possible from his estranged wife and others involved and to present himself as an unconscientious lover, a naive husband and a fairly powerless mayor.
However, there is currently a political recall process against him.
On November 6, the people of Frankfurt are to decide in a vote whether they still consider him to be acceptable as mayor.
The appearance in court should not have brought him many sympathy points.
Lawyer Hofferbert had tried in irritating detail to describe the relationship between Feldmann and his estranged wife as a major misunderstanding.
Their marriage was therefore the result of an unwanted pregnancy, which Feldmann originally wanted to end with an abortion.
According to Hofferbert, Feldmann and Zübeyde T. had "a love affair characterized by extreme ups and downs" - but by no means a civil partnership.
And when the then 29-year-old was hired on unusually good terms as the manager of an Awo day-care center in mid-2015 immediately after her studies, despite limited professional experience, the two were not even together.
"Clearly excessive salary"
T's employment is a central point of the indictment.
The Frankfurt public prosecutor's office accuses Feldmann of "tacitly agreeing" with former leaders of the Arbeiterwohlfahrt (Awo) in Frankfurt and Wiesbaden that the interests of the social association should be taken into account in his office.
Among other things, this was in return for privileges that his partner at the time and later wife received from Awo - such as the position as daycare manager with "significantly inflated salary", plus a sham employment contract with a mini-job salary without work and a company car , which could also be used during parental leave.
In addition, the then Awo boss Hannelore Richter collected donations for Feldmann's mayoral campaign.
According to Feldmann's lawyers, it cannot be that T. was only hired to please the mayor.
Because T. separated from Feldmann shortly before the appointment date because he promised her marriage but didn't stick to it.
According to his lawyer, Feldmann was still involved in legal disputes with a former wife and feared that a new relationship could adversely affect his custody of the child from this marriage.
Feldmann and T. therefore always had separate residences before their marriage and avoided public appearances together.
They only got married in 2016 because T. became pregnant.
Feldmann urged her to abort the child, but she refused.
After the marriage, Feldmann never bothered about his wife's income or financial situation, who now lives separately from him.
She almost never paid into the joint account that the couple used to cover their living expenses.
He didn't even read the joint tax return, which was prepared by a tax consultant - he just signed it.
"quid pro quo"
Feldmann also distanced himself from the Awo officials who were decisive at the time in his lawyers' statement.
His relationship with the couple Hannelore and Jürgen Richter, who largely divided the management and control functions of the Awo district associations in Frankfurt and Wiesbaden between themselves and their confidants, has cooled down significantly since he was elected mayor.
Although they knew each other from their youth in the SPD-affiliated youth organization Die Falken, they belonged to different camps at the time.
There are several separate proceedings against the judges, including for fraud.
According to the public prosecutor's office, they should turn the Awo into a kind of self-service shop for themselves,
In the indictment against Feldmann, the public prosecutor's office compiled numerous short messages that strongly indicate that the Richters had repeatedly expected something in return for their kindness to Feldmann.
Feldmann was always "very well supported and secured," wrote Hannelore Richter, for example, and demanded: "Quid pro quo" - "This for that."
According to the investigators, one of these benefits could have been a "right of return" that the judges had granted to Feldmann shortly after his election as mayor.
Feldmann was employed by the Awo during his election campaign as the owner of a "staff position" set up especially for him.
Although one was not satisfied with his work performance, Hannelore Richter later reported to investigators.
Nevertheless, she assured Feldmann that she would return to this position when her political career ended.
more on the subject
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Feldmann, on the other hand, claims to have had the impression, according to his defense attorneys, that Hannelore Richter did not like him.
Although he himself has repeatedly given speeches at Awo events, he has not treated the association any better than other social initiatives.
He cannot remember a dinner with Feldmann, Zübeyde T. and the Richters, at which, according to the indictment, the decision to hire his then-girlfriend T. as head of the day-care center was decided.
In any case, he only accepted invitations from the Richters “out of courtesy” – and then mostly chatted with Jürgen Richter about the old days at the “Falcons”.
According to his lawyers, all attempts by the Richter couple to use Feldmann for the interests of Awo were rejected or rejected by the head of the town hall.
For example, when Jürgen Richter asked him not to have to pay fees for an exemption from the parking requirement for the German-Turkish day-care center that Zübyede T. was supposed to run.
He passed this initiative on to the responsible office in the city administration without comment and only had this communicated to Awo in a machine-signed standard letter from his office.
No right to issue instructions
In any case, unlike in other federal states, mayors in Hesse do not have much to decide in the city administration.
Technical questions would be dealt with independently by the department heads in the magistrate, Feldmann had no guideline competence and no right to issue instructions.
He sees his task as mayor as giving the citizens "a platform" in the city and exerting "political pressure" on the city administration's decisions via the public.
He also signaled this powerlessness to Hannelore Richter, who had requested his help in the dispute with the city over the financing of refugee accommodation.
According to the indictment, Feldmann contacted the city's social affairs department and asked for a solution.
In fact, Hannelore Richter was disappointed that Feldmann had achieved so little for her, according to his lawyers.
In a message to Feldmann, the Awo official wrote: She now knows "that I can't expect any gratitude."