Sangerhausen / Halle –
Negotiations should be held until shortly before the start of spring. The dates before the regional court in Halle have now been set for the appeal proceedings against a 77-year-old company boss from the southern Harz region. The entrepreneur, well-known in the region, was sentenced to two years and three months imprisonment by the lay judge’s court in Sangerhausen in a sensational trial for sexual assault on a former employee.
The court followed the prosecutor’s request. The company boss denies having committed the act. He had insinuated that the woman wanted to extort money from his family and that the DNA traces found on her body had been inflicted on herself. However, reviewers came to the opposite conclusion. There was no evidence of the alleged extortion. The 77-year-old has appealed against the judgment.
Sexual coercion trial: woman has to testify again
In the appeal process, at the request of the 77-year-old, the process surrounding the incident from 2018 is now being rolled out again. The 9th criminal chamber will be heard. The chairman is Jörg Engelhard, the president of the Halle regional court. The procedure will start on Monday, January 4th. Then a total of five more trial dates are planned until March 15th. That day the judgment could then be made. The 24-year-old victim, two police officers and the woman’s husband should be heard at the start of the trial.
This time the defendant is represented by lawyer Sascha Böttner, who runs a law firm specializing in criminal law in Hamburg, a law firm in Frankfurt and another law firm in Neumünster. The defendant’s previous defense lawyers, Sven Gebhardt and Heinrich Schmetkamp, are no longer there.
Trial of sedition in the headlines nationwide
Böttner recently represented the pastor of the Bremen St. Martini congregation, Olaf Latzel, in a procedure that made headlines across the country. The pastor was sentenced to three months’ imprisonment last week by the Bremen District Court for sedition, which the court converted into a fine of 90 daily rates of 90 euros (8,100 euros).
According to the verdict, the 53-year-old theologian had incited hatred against homosexuals and intersex people in a so-called marriage seminar. Böttner had pleaded for acquittal and has now announced that he will appeal. He told the MZ on Monday: His goal was to get the 77-year-old boss to be acquitted in the appeal hearing. He said nothing further. (mz)
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