Here is the video link to the program from the ARD Mediathek.
Attached is the press release from the law firm Stirnweiss, Stege & Coll. regarding the spectacular case of the assaulting police officers from Stuttgart:
Police Violence Against Mr. Gökhan A.
Press Release by Attorneys Stirnweiss, Brandt and Grimm, Law Firm Stirnweiss, Stege & Coll., Stuttgart – July 24, 2018
At the express request of our client, we confirm that we represent Mr. Gökhan A. as the injured party in the criminal proceedings conducted against police officers of the State of Baden-Württemberg and simultaneously defend him in the criminal proceedings brought against him on charges of resisting law enforcement officers. Furthermore, our law firm is authorized to represent Mr. Gökhan A. in compensation proceedings against the State of Baden-Württemberg before the Stuttgart Regional Court.
The reason for our client’s decision to also go public regarding the police assault committed against him on February 19, 2017, is his concern about an unjustifiable delay in the investigation of this act of arbitrary police violence and the accompanying dissemination of dismissive information.
In fact, after initially thorough interrogations and investigations, a certain standstill and growing lack of transparency in the investigations has been observed for over a year, which cannot be explained by proper procedures.
While the Stuttgart Public Prosecutor’s Office gradually discontinued the investigation proceedings initially initiated against three of the four police officers demonstrably directly involved in the incident for assault in office and persecution of the innocent by the end of 2017, the investigations initiated against Mr. A. for alleged resistance against law enforcement officers are still ongoing. In particular, the fact that the proceedings against an officer who had carried out a massive baton assault were discontinued makes critical inquiries to the prosecution authorities a matter of course for us.
Despite the availability of all essential investigation results for over a year, the Stuttgart Public Prosecutor’s Office only filed charges against one of the involved police officers for dangerous assault in office, among other things, on May 18, 2018, and after further delays, these charges were admitted by decision of the Stuttgart Local Court on July 12, 2018, and two highly anticipated trial dates have been set for September 27 and October 2, 2018.
Based on our daily defense work, we have great respect for all those many police officers who carry out their very demanding duties professionally every day without giving cause for justified complaints. We also experience the police leadership in Stuttgart as generally open and committed. However, we are at the same time convinced that it is a matter of course for the criminal investigation authorities to investigate criminal conduct promptly without regard to person or professional group and to bring it to sanction. This is especially true when, in individual cases, police officers are involved in the exercise of their duties and disregard laws and regulations. For it is these individual cases that ultimately cause considerable damage to the reputation of the police and also internally put police officers in critical situations when investigations are not conducted transparently and swiftly within police structures as well as from outside, and necessary consequences are not drawn.
In the context of these police assaults on our client—which were only recorded by third parties by chance—we view with concern demands for generally harsher police action, such as recently in a position paper formulated by authors from the State Office for Training and Further Education (LAFP) of the North Rhine-Westphalia police (see SPIEGEL report of February 27, 2018, “Your Robust Friend and Helper”), in which the expectation is expressed to police officers to, among other things, “…significantly increase robustness…”.
We see in such appeals the justified danger that for police officers in the future it should primarily be about “consistent intervention” and not about de-escalation, e.g., through trained communication. Such rhetoric can make police officers, especially when they come under stress due to operations, feel challenged to act violently in conflict situations without necessity.
However, another problem also arises for police officers themselves: If on the one hand “robust” behavior is generally demanded of them, but on the other hand transgressions as in the present case of our client are not consistently and quickly addressed, then all those police officers who provide clear and truthful official statements find themselves in great difficulties, which consistent and swift administration of justice should spare them. It is absolutely essential to avoid any pressure on police officers to make the statements of colleagues who have committed offenses the guideline for their own statements and official declarations.
Since police officers, especially in court, are always given an increased presumption of trust, if their statements are untrue, incomplete, or at least distorting, there is a risk that a case will not even be clarified or often a false conviction of the actual victim will occur.
If the video that later became known had not been available in the case of our client, the initially “moderated” police statements would very likely have already led to a not insignificant conviction of our actually injured client for, e.g., resistance against law enforcement officers. Such a constellation can affect any citizen and therefore requires increased attention and proper treatment of all those involved in our society.
We therefore expect from the State of Baden-Württemberg not only for this specific case a clear commitment against any form of arbitrary police violence and the supervision of consistent internal processing, as well as from the public prosecutor’s office an objective and timely criminal investigation of the conduct of all those involved in this police operation.
We thank “Report Mainz” for the professional journalistic treatment of this socially pressing issue.
We ask that inquiries regarding the status of the investigation and court proceedings be directed to the press offices of the Stuttgart Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Stuttgart Regional Court. Insofar as further questions are to be addressed to the defense, we recommend contacting us via email at: ra.stirnweiss@stcoll.de.
Signed
Martin Stirnweiss – Specialist Attorney for Criminal Law
Kristina Brandt – Specialist Attorney for Criminal Law
Albrecht Grimm – Specialist Attorney for Criminal Law
