The cookbook author Attila Hildmann, wanted for sedition, fled to Turkey in December.
Did he get any information from the judiciary?
Berlin - The Berlin public prosecutor's office has been investigating the former vegan chef and corona denier Attila Hildmann for months on suspicion of incitement to hatred, insults and threats in several cases.
At the end of March, however, the public prosecutor's office announced that the arrest warrant was unlikely to be carried out because Hildmann had apparently gone to Turkey.
Attila Hildmann: Public prosecutor's office is investigating within its own ranks - violation of official secrets
Now the public prosecutor is investigating in connection with the Hildmann case in its own ranks.
"There is a suspicion that information about an existing arrest warrant against the accused Hildmann has been passed on in an inadmissible manner," explains the Berlin Public Prosecutor's Office in a statement on Twitter.
"In this regard, we are investigating against unknown persons for breach of official secrets."
Because, as research by
WDR
and
Süddeutscher Zeitung
have shown, Hildmann is said to have known before the responsible public prosecutor's office that an arrest warrant had been raised against him.
A reconstruction of the events showed that the judge in charge made the decision on the afternoon of February 19 - a Friday - to approve the requested arrest warrant against Hildmann.
Over the weekend, the prosecutor who had requested the arrest warrant was not informed until Monday.
Attila Hildmann: Did he know about an arrest warrant against him before the public prosecutor's office?
On that weekend, however, Hildmann is said to have already shared a message in his Telegram group that referred to an existing arrest warrant.
"Today it was confirmed to us that Attila Hildmann has an arrest warrant for telling the truth."
Therefore, he now has to "go underground", shared Hildmann with his followers.
The 40-year-old wrote again on Sunday.
"Not a single media report on the open arrest warrant against me where 100 articles are usually written when I lift a finger!"
Attila Hildmann: arrest warrant not cause for flight to Turkey
While Hildmann himself claims to have learned about the arrest warrant from police officers who visited his mother at the weekend, the public prosecutor's office indicates that only a handful of people are said to have known about the arrest warrant at the time.
The judge, her staff, a secretary and a security guard who was responsible for transporting the files.
However, the arrest warrant should not have been decisive for Hildmann's escape, as the 40-year-old is said to have fled to Turkey in December 2020, as confirmed by the attorney general.
(fd)