Attack on NPD man in court

On May 21, 2019, a Leisniger is said to have attacked the NPD member Stefan Trautmann, who was on the Döbelner city council and in the district council at the time and was on an election campaign that day. The accusation of the public prosecutor: the defendant pushed Trautmann from behind with both hands. As a result, this should have fallen into his election campaign. The result was pain in his arm that was stuck in a bandage due to a fracture. Assault in the act of offense with insult – the word “Nazi pig” is said to have been used – accuses public prosecutor Tina Mende of the accused.

Defendant wants to express an opinion

The 24-year-old defendant describes what happened from his point of view. He heard that the NPD was campaigning near the Rewe market. “Since I am deeply against this party, I went to the advertising stand with a friend to give my opinion,” he says. He was sure that the NPD had no permission for this performance.

However, he did not push Trautmann, but merely expressed his opinion. Trautmann called the police. In response to the allegation that he was supposed to have stolen information material, he voluntarily made himself available to the officers to search his belongings.

When judge Ines Opitz asked whether there had been a physical altercation, the defendant replied with “no”. The judge also asks where the information booth was. “First on the footpath in front of the Rewe parking lot. Later the NPD people carried the stand towards the entrance of the market ”, said the accused. He ran after them.

Witness calls the police

Like the defendant, main witness Stefan Trautmann says that the two men know each other from previous encounters. The defendant kicked the information booth with one foot. “I called the police. When we carried the stand from the footpath towards the Rewe entrance, I was kicked by the defendant. I don’t know whether he wanted to meet me or the stand, ”says Trautmann. He was hit in the left leg. Until the evening he still felt pain.

The Rewe employees asked him to leave the site with the campaigns. But he wanted to wait until the police arrived.

The prosecutor asks the main witness whether he was healthy that day. He answers this question in the affirmative. “And what about her broken arm?” Mende continues. “Oh yes, you’re right. It was broken, but I was nearing recovery, ”said the witness. Judge Opitz also finds these memory gaps strange. “That not even the broken arm will be remembered,” she says.

Mutual insults fall

Trautmann verbally explains how things were presented from his point of view. There had been insults to each other, so he did not see this accusation in the indictment as important. When asked by the judge, he withdraws the charge of insult.

Despite repeated inquiries, Trautmann sticks to his description of what happened. He claims to have photographed his leg back then. While he was given permission to look for the photos on his mobile phone, Judge Opitz, Public Prosecutor Mende and Defense Attorney Jürgen Kasek withdrew to a legal interview.

Then Opitz asks again. “The kicks do not appear in their testimony at the time. Why do you describe the incidents differently today than they did then? ”Said the judge. She dismisses Trautmann from the stand. The judge refrained from questioning other witnesses. “Only the main witness can provide information about his pain,” she explains.

More witnesses released

She dismisses all other witnesses. One of them, like Trautmann NPD member, stays in the hall as a spectator. Shortly afterwards, however, a police officer took him out because he was banned from the court. This was only overridden for questioning as a witness.

“The facts have not been confirmed,” said public prosecutor Mende in her plea. The defendant should therefore be acquitted of the charge of bodily harm. The criminal complaint for insult had been withdrawn. Lawyer Jürgen Kasek agrees with the prosecutor. Judge Opitz ultimately complies with this request.

The question of costs is not an easy matter

She had to think a little longer about who should bear the costs of the proceedings. Since Trautmann only withdrew the accusation of insult during the main hearing, the costs for this part could have been passed on to him.

In the end, however, she refrained from doing so because another point was negotiated with the allegation of bodily harm. “The court does not have to deal with political motivations. If you go to the level, as happened on May 21, 2019, you can’t convince the other, ”says the judge in her closing remarks.

The public prosecutor’s office declares no appeal, therefore the judgment is legally valid.

Read more local news from Döbeln and Central Saxony here.

–