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CRIME

Germany’s ‘nastiest priest’ avoids jail

A Catholic priest in the southwestern German city of Freiburg was sentenced to a 20-month suspended sentence on Friday for numerous crimes, including fraud and bodily harm.

Published: 17 October 2008 15:38 CEST
Germany’s 'nastiest priest' avoids jail
Photo: DPA

The 39-year-old had been charged with 101 crimes including blackmail, fraud, breach of trust, coercion and assault, but was found guilty on just 11 counts of fraud and 5 counts of assault after coming to an agreement with the court.

Labelled “Germany’s nastiest priest” by the daily paper Express, was found guilty of giving false information to obtain two loans of €120,000 ($175,000) from the diocese of Freiburg in southern Germany as well as an additional €17,000 from a local parish and other private sources in the same area. He apparently used the money to finance a lavish lifestyle , buying vehicles, furniture, clothing and frequent meals at restaurants.

The four bodily harm charges came from incidents with his live-in female companion, a woman 11 years his senior who he met through his priestly duties in 2003. The court found him guilty of abusing her in attempt to get her to sell her home and give him the money.

Total damages from his crimes rang in at €220,000, accumulated between 2003 and 2006, the court said.

CRIME

Teenager turns self in after attack on German politician

A 17-year-old has turned himself in to police in Germany after an attack on a lawmaker that the country's leaders decried as a threat to democracy.

Published: 5 May 2024 12:52 CEST
Teenager turns self in after attack on German politician

The teenager reported to police in the eastern city of Dresden early Sunday morning and said he was “the perpetrator who had knocked down the SPD politician”, police said in a statement.

Matthias Ecke, 41, European parliament lawmaker for Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats (SPD), was set upon by four attackers as he put up EU election posters in Dresden on Friday night, according to police.

Ecke was “seriously injured” and required an operation after the attack, his party said.

Scholz on Saturday condemned the attack as a threat to democracy.

“We must never accept such acts of violence,” he said.

Ecke, who is head of the SPD’s European election list in the Saxony region, was just the latest political target to be attacked in Germany.

Police said a 28-year-old man putting up posters for the Greens had been “punched” and “kicked” earlier in the evening on the same Dresden street.

Last week two Greens deputies were abused while campaigning in Essen in western Germany and another was surrounded by dozens of demonstrators in her car in the east of the country.

According to provisional police figures, 2,790 crimes were committed against politicians in Germany in 2023, up from 1,806 the previous year, but less than the 2,840 recorded in 2021, when legislative elections took place.

A group of activists against the far right has called for demonstrations against the attack on Ecke in Dresden and Berlin on Sunday, Der Spiegel magazine said.

According to the Tagesspiegel newspaper, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser is planning to call a special conference with Germany’s regional interior ministers next week to address violence against politicians.

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