"Pesticide Tyrol" trial against Karl Bär: the apple hasn't quite been bitten yet

Created: 01/28/2022, 19:02

By: Katrin Hager

Karl Bär, member of the Bundestag (Greens) from Holzkirchen, is relieved: At the trial against him in South Tyrol, the accusation of defamation is off the table.

© Thomas Plettenberg

The accusation of defamation is off the table: The fruit grower, who was the last to keep the complaint against Karl Bär from Holzkirchen in the "Pesticide Tyrol" trial, has now withdrawn it in court in South Tyrol.

But the apple has not yet been bitten.

Holzkirchen/Bozen

– The accusation of defamation is off the table: the fruit grower, who was the last to keep the complaint against Karl Bär from Holzkirchen in the “Pesticide Tyrol” trial, withdrew it on Friday at the court hearing in Bozen. The apple hasn't been bitten yet: Apart from the fact that there will be another day of hearings about the allegation of trademark infringement against Bär, the matter could still have a political aftermath, says Bär, who is now a member of the Green Party in the Bundestag. Because in the hearing of witnesses, the fruit grower had now testified that he had been urged to sign the complaint against Bär.

"No trial day without a volte," says Karl Bär on the phone on Friday afternoon.

Since October 2020, the 36-year-old has had to answer in criminal proceedings.

As a consultant for trade and agricultural policy at the Munich Environmental Institute, Bär organized the provocative campaign "Pesticide Tyrol" in 2017, based on South Tyrol's tourism marketing, to denounce the use of pesticides in apple cultivation.

In an action orchestrated by the then Deputy South Tyrolean Governor and Provincial Councilor for Agriculture and Forestry, Arnold Schuler, Bär then reported more than 1,370 farmers in the region for defamation and counterfeiting.

The public prosecutor's office in Bolzano brought charges, and almost all of them withdrew their complaints at the start of the trial.

The farmer's testimony in court points to "political farce" for Bär

The last remaining plaintiff, who had allowed the last day of the trial at the end of October to burst, did the same. As Bär describes to our newspaper shortly after the court date on Friday, the farmer on the witness stand decided to withdraw the complaint and to go through the dialogue.

At the beginning, however, the farmer "dropped a bomb": "He said on the witness stand that he had not reported it of his own accord, but had been urged to do so by State Councilor Schuler and the farmers' association." Not only for Bär a twist he didn't expect.

But also a new dimension: "It would not have been the awakened anger of the South Tyrolean farmers, but a political farce." This will probably have consequences in state politics.

Greens members of the Bavarian and South Tyrolean state parliaments are also following the process as observers.

Allegations of defamation are completely off the table

The accusation of defamation, for which those affected are required, is off the table and will not be pursued any further.

The case with trademark law is different.

After a conversation with Bär's lawyer and the public prosecutor's office, the court set a hearing date for May 6, 2022, on which, however, no more witnesses should be heard, says Bär.

"I have great hope of an acquittal." If not, every satirical program would be full of trademark infringements, he suspects.

Bär explains that they are sticking to a public dialogue on the use of pesticides in South Tyrol, which the environmental institute had promised.

In the documentation of the use of pesticides by the farmers themselves, which the institute wants to evaluate and publish, plausibility errors have appeared that first have to be clarified.

"It could take months," Bär estimates.

So we're still waiting for an appointment.

The environmental institute was in contact with Schuler, the VIP producer cooperative and the VOG marketing cooperative.

Both cooperatives belong to the umbrella organization of the South Tyrolean apple consortium, which has spoken out in press releases about the process.

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