User:ΟΥΤΙΣ/sandbox/Oury Jalloh

Official investigations and prosecutions

edit

2007 - 2008 Dessau state court trial

edit

In March 2007, a trial was opened at the state court of Dessau[a] against police officer Hans-Ulrich M., charged with causing bodily harm with fatal consequences, and against his superior Andreas S., charged with involuntary manslaughter.[1]

On 8 December 2008 the court acquitted both defendants of all charges. According to presiding judge Manfred Steinhoff, contradictory testimony had prevented clarification of the circumstances and had obstructed due process. In his closing speech, Steinhoff accused the police officers of lying in court, and of thus damaging the reputation of the state of Saxony-Anhalt.[2][3][4]

On January 7, 2010, exactly five years after Jalloh died in his cell, the Bundesgerichtshof federal court in Karlsruhe overturned the earlier verdict. The case was relegated to the state court of Saxony-Anhalt at Magdeburg for retrial.[5][6]

2011 - 2012 Magdeburg state court trial

edit

On missing date January 2011, the second criminal trial was opened against Andreas S. and Hans-Ulrich M. at Landgericht Magdeburg with the same charges as before.<ref>missing source!</ref>
On December 13, 2012, the court again acquitted policeman Hans-Ulrich M., but fined his superior, night shift leader (German: Dienstgruppenleiter) Andreas S. €10,800[b] for involuntary manslaughter due to his failure to render assistance (German: fahrlässige Tötung durch Unterlassen).[8]

On September 4, 2014 the Bundesgerichtshof federal court dismissed the case's revision, confirming the 2012 verdict.[9]

2013 - 2017 investigation against unknown police officers

edit

Federal investigation

edit

The Group for the memory of Oury Jalloh (German: Initiative zum Gedenken an Oury Jalloh) commissioned a new fire expertise by Irish expert McBlablurb that excluded the possibility that Jalloh set the fire himself as the corpse's condition indicated the use of a chemical accelerant.
Consequently the group and the relatives of Oury Jalloh registered a criminal compaint against unknown police officers on missing date, arguing that no one else had access to Jalloh's cell to start the fire.[10]

Investigation by Dessau district attorney

edit

In February 2014, Public Prosecutor General (German: Generalbundesanwalt) Harald Range relegated the investigation to Folker Bittmann, district attorney for Dessau-Roßlau.<ref>missing source!</ref>

An extended fire analysis led by Swiss forsensics expert Kurt Zollinger and published in August 2016, found missing expertise findings.<ref>missing source!</ref>

Closure by Halle district attorney (October 2017)

edit

The investigation was handed over to the office of the district attorney of Halle in August 18, 2017. Less than two months later, on October 12, 2017, they closed the case and dismissed further investigations, citing insufficient evidence for the participation of other persons in Jalloh's inflammation.<ref>missing source!</ref>

National TV feature (November 2017)

edit

Das ARD-Magazin Monitor veröffentlichte am 16. November 2017 Informationen aus den Ermittlungsakten der Staatsanwaltschaft Dessau-Roßlau. Aus ihnen geht hervor, dass Jalloh mit hoher Wahrscheinlichkeit von Dritten getötet wurde. Die Staatsanwaltschaft hatte Gutachten von mehreren Sachverständigen eingeholt, die die Bereiche Brandschutz, Medizin und Chemie abdecken und mehrheitlich zu dem Schluss kommen, dass der Tod Jallohs durch Fremdeinwirkung wahrscheinlicher ist als eine Selbstanzündung. Demnach hält es auch der ehemals leitende Staatsanwalt aus Dessau für wahrscheinlich, dass der Mann bereits vor Ausbruch des Feuers mindestens handlungsunfähig war. Möglicherweise war er zu diesem Zeitpunkt auch schon tot. Die Situation in der Zelle lasse auf ein Besprühen mit geringen Mengen von Brandbeschleuniger schließen, so Oberstaatsanwalt Bittmann. Er benannte in einem Brief, der Monitor vorliegt, konkrete Verdächtige unter den Dessauer Polizeibeamten.[77]missing translation <ref>missing source!</ref>

State parliamentary hearing (November 2017)

edit

Bei einer Anhörung des Rechtsausschusses im Magdeburger Landtag im November 2017 wurden diese Fakten genannt und es wurde klar, dass die nun verantwortliche Staatsanwaltschaft Halle auf Einstellung des Verfahrens beharrt. Daraufhin forderte die Fraktion Die Linke Akteneinsicht. Diese wurde nicht gewährt, weil die Regierungskoalition aus CDU, SPD und Grünen dies ablehnte. Die Linke forderte daraufhin einen Sonderermittler wie etwa im Fall des NSU, der nicht aus Sachsen-Anhalt komme.[77]missing translation <ref>missing source!</ref>

Investigation by Attorney General of Saxony-Anhalt

edit

In December 2017, Saxony-Anhalt Minister of Justice Anne-Marie Keding [de] ordered the Attorney General of Saxony-Anhalt [de] in Naumburg to re-open an investigation in the Oury Jalloh case.<ref>missing source!</ref>
Missing result!

Closure confirmed by Attorney General of Saxony-Anhalt (November 2018)

edit

On November 29, 2018 Attorney General of Saxony-Anhalt (German: Generalstaatsanwalt) Jürgen Konrad dismissed a complaint by Jalloh's relatives, demanding a re-opening of the investigation, confirming the August 2017 dismissal by the district attorney of Halle. Konrad cited insufficient evidence to assume the involvement of persons other than Jalloh in his inflammation.[e]<ref>missing source!</ref>

Closure confirmed by High State Court of Saxony-Anhalt (January 2019)

edit

Die Angehörigen von Oury Jalloh hatten am 4. Januar 2019 Antrag auf Klageerzwingung beim Oberlandesgericht Naumburg (OLG Naumburg) gestellt. Insbesondere zum Prüfvermerk der Generalstaatsanwaltschaft erklärte deren Anwältin: „Es mag sein, dass der Verfasser des Vermerks „sämtliche hier zur Verfügung stehenden Ermittlungsakten und sonstige Unterlagen“ durchgesehen hat. Allein das führt aber nicht zur Erkenntnis“. Sie kritisiert mangelnde Auseinandersetzung mit den wichtigsten Hinweisen auf eine Brandlegung durch Dritte sowie den Hinweisen darauf, dass Oury Jalloh aufgrund der rechtsmedizinischen und brandsachverständigen Erkenntnisse gar nicht in der Lage gewesen sein sollte, ein derartiges Feuer selbst zu entzünden. Die Anwältin behauptet eine Ignoranz gegenüber der Beweislage, die sich von den Erkenntnissen des Landgerichts Magdeburg am 13. Dezember 2012 unterscheidet. Der von der Generalstaatsanwaltschaft Naumburg eingeholte Prüfbericht des Büros für Brandschutz (Pasedag) vom 12. Juli 2018 stehe den für die Einstellung des Verfahrens vorgetragenen Argumenten entgegen.missing translation
The complaint and move to force the opening of a new trial by Jalloh's relatives, was dismissed by the High State Court (German: Oberlandesgericht) of Saxony-Anhalt on October 22, 2019.<ref>missing source!</ref>

Federal Constitutional Court appeal to re-open the case

edit

On November 25, 2019 Jalloh's relatives officially appealed the October 2019 High State Court decision at the Federal Constitutional Court (German: Bundesverfassungsgericht).
A decision is still pending, as of June 2021.<ref>missing source!</ref>

2020 parliamentary investigation

edit

In August 2020 the Landtag of Saxony-Anhalt published a report by special investigators Jerzy Montag and Manfred Nötzel [de] on the Jalloh case, calling the policemen's actions "flawed" and "contrary to the law" (German: "fehlerhaft" und "rechtswidrig"). However, they concluded that the district attorney's final dismissal of the case in 2017 was "factually and legally correct in view of available evidence".[11][12]

Notes

edit
  1. ^ Called Landgericht Dessau-Roßlau from July 2007, when the towns of Dessau and Roßlau formed an administrative union.
  2. ^ Or 120 day-fines of €90, supposedly equivalent to four months of his net income. Under German law,[7] a day fine (German: Tagessatz) should be equivalent to the defendant's net income per day.
  3. ^ Died from internal injuries a few hours after being released from the same police building in 1997.
  4. ^ Died from an unsupervised skull fracture in the same cell in 2002.
  5. ^ The State Attorney General published his findings in a report of 202 pages that also tries to disprove any police involvement in the deaths of Hans-Jürgen Rose[c] and Mario Bichtemann[d]

References

edit
  1. ^ von Bouillon 2007.
  2. ^ Straube 2008.
  3. ^ Peters 2008.
  4. ^ Deutsche Welle trial report 2008.
  5. ^ Deutsche Welle retrial decision 2010.
  6. ^ BGH revision verdict 2010.
  7. ^ § 40 StGB
  8. ^ Deutsche Welle Magdeburg trial verdict 2012.
  9. ^ Deutsche Welle BGH upholds Magdeburg verdict 2014.
  10. ^ Caldwell 2013.
  11. ^ Douglas 2020.
  12. ^ Montag & Nötzel 2020.

Sources

edit
  • kms; hc (13 December 2012). "German policeman fined in Oury Jalloh case". dw.com. Deutsche Welle. Archived from the original on 27 December 2019.
  • Caldwell, Mark (12 November 2013). "Fresh evidence claimed in African asylum seeker's death". dw.com. Deutsche Welle. Archived from the original on 28 October 2015.
  • jr; bw (4 September 2014). "German court upholds fine in asylum seeker wrongful death case". dw.com. Deutsche Welle. Archived from the original on 28 October 2015.