Condemnation of attacks on juvenile court judge
One day after the verdicts were announced in the trial for a rape in Hamburg's Stadtpark, the Hamburg Judges' Association expressed its dismay at personal attacks on the chairwoman of the youth chamber at the regional court on social media. "More or less veiled calls for violence against the judge are being made and the wish is being expressed that she herself should become a victim of rape," explained the association, which also includes public prosecutors, on Wednesday.
It was a targeted attack on the rule of law. The competent chamber had collected a large amount of evidence in a complex procedure and had reached a differentiated verdict. Without knowing the background to the case, the hate messages were limited to one-sided polemics and personal attacks against the judge. Convictions to juvenile sentences with probation, which represent one of the harshest sanctions under juvenile law, were described as acquittals. "The Hamburg Judges' Association condemns such behavior in the strongest possible terms and stands in solidarity with its colleague," explained the association's chairwoman, Heike Hummelmeier.
On Tuesday, the juvenile court sentenced nine defendants to prison. A tenth defendant was acquitted, as was an original eleventh defendant last April 5. The juvenile sentences of one to two years for eight defendants were suspended by the chamber on probation or so-called pre-parole. Only one 19-year-old received a harsher sentence of two years and nine months in prison without probation.
The court was convinced that the convicts, aged between 19 and 23, had raped a 15-year-old girl in September 2020. In doing so, they had taken advantage of the fact that the teenager showed considerable alcohol-related symptoms of intoxication after attending a party. The trial lasted over a year and a half and, apart from parts of the sentencing, took place in camera.
The internet has become a platform for spreading unjustified hate and threats, as witnessed in the case of the hacked social media accounts of the Hamburg Judges' Association, which included calls for violence against the judge responsible for the rape trial's verdict. Regrettably, some individuals fail to understand that justice processes relies on impartial judgments, rather than resorting to personal attacks on those involved.
Source: www.dpa.com
