Gentges: Express proceedings against demonstrators for possible

Created: 12/20/2021Updated: 12/20/2021, 3:25 PM

Marion Gentges (CDU), Minister of Justice and Migration Baden-Württemberg.

© Marijan Murat / dpa

They meet in Reutlingen, on Lake Constance, in Freiburg and also in Mannheim.

Again and again.

Sometimes there are thousands demonstrating against the corona policy.

And it doesn't always end peacefully.

Express proceedings could help, says the Justice Minister.

Stuttgart - According to the Baden-Württemberg Minister of Justice Marion Gentges, criminal offenses during the ongoing protests against the Corona measures could also be tried through accelerated proceedings. "That is definitely something that we have in view and I could imagine that it would be done more often," said the CDU politician, referring to the meetings at which thousands of people have been demonstrating for several weeks against restrictions such as contact restrictions and vaccination requirements.

The public prosecutor's office and police headquarters had already been in contact in the run-up to the Mannheim protests about the fact that accelerated procedures should be used where this seemed sensible. The disregard of the mask requirement and the distance rules as well as the participation in a forbidden meeting were not considered administrative offenses.

Express judgments usually come into play when a perpetrator is caught red-handed, because then the facts are simpler and the evidence is clearer. Gentges wants to expand the judicial instrument as early as next year. If the ministry's draft budget is approved this Wednesday, accelerated procedures would be offered in four other locations regardless of the pandemic, said the minister of the German Press Agency. There should be one position at the public prosecutor's office and another at the responsible local court. So far this has only been the case in Mannheim, Freiburg and Stuttgart.

With the judgments on the same day or partly on the next day, the judiciary wants to avoid the time-consuming and costly process for smaller offenses.

Quick decisions in court should not only relieve public prosecutors and courts, but also victims, witnesses and even the perpetrators.

According to the will of the judiciary, the punishment should ideally follow the act.

The SPD legal expert Boris Weirauch had recently brought the express rulings into play.

Since the summer of last year, almost 250 accelerated proceedings have been negotiated at the three model locations.

Corona has recently slowed the trend, said Gentges.

Most recently, during the time of the pandemic and according to the ministry, there were again less suitable cases, fewer contacts and only a few negotiations.

After the massive violations of the Corona requirements in the past, numerous opponents of the Corona measures gathered again in several municipalities at the weekend.

Around 1000 people gathered in Reutlingen on Saturday evening - despite a communal ban on gathering.

According to the Interior Ministry, around 2,500 police officers attended more than 50 meetings on corona policy with a total of around 17,100 participants at the weekend.

"The vast majority of the meetings went largely smoothly and peacefully," said the ministry on Monday.

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Gentges announced the authorities' resistance to violent demonstrators.

"We don't intend to surrender to what's going on," she said.

But a distinction must be made between those who demonstrated and had the right to do so and those who crossed the line to latent violence and threats, said the minister.

"It makes sense to take a closer look at these people, because something happens to our society that needs to be stopped."

The expressions of opinion and the criticism would not only increase in sharpness, but also in aggressiveness and radicalism.

"There is an incredibly dangerous mix and the general willingness to cross borders has increased significantly," warned Gentges.

dpa