One of Germany’s most notorious prosecutions of free speech has collapsed, as the Berlin prosecutor’s office has dropped a case designed to stop Germans discussing the war against Russia in the Ukraine.
Heinrich Buecher, (lead image, left) owner of the COOP Anti-war Café on Rochstrasse, has been prosecuted in a Berlin district court and then in the higher regional court for statements he had made in a city park on June 22, 2022. On the anniversary of the German Army’s Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union, Buecher had declared: “Never again may we as Germans get involved in a war against Russia in any form. We need to unite and join to oppose this madness together.”
In the court proceedings which followed, the judges refused to allow Buecher to speak in his own defence. Instead, he published on the website of his café a re-statement of what he had been convicted of saying in June 2022. “As an anti-fascist and anti-imperialist, I expressly oppose the policy of regime change, against wars of intervention and against any Interference in the internal affairs of independent states. I call on the German government to adopt a policy in the interest of International peace, in the interests of international security and peaceful coexistence of all peoples. The principles of the Charter of the United Nations must be respected and international law must be defended.”
“I call for all arms deliveries and training programs for the Ukraine stop immediately. I demand diplomacy instead of weapons. I call for all efforts of our government to negotiate and allow opponents of war without preconditions. The sacrifice of the Ukraine for the geopolitical interests of the West, namely the strategic weakening of Russia, is a monstrous war crime and must have an end.”
The Buecher case has been followed by the Russian media but not the Anglo-American media. The mainstream German press has also avoided reporting the case. Read the full story here.
In January 2023, a Berlin district court judge named Tobias Pollman issued a summary judgement without hearing evidence or argument, ruling that Buecker’s crime came under Section 140 of the German Criminal Code, and had consisted of “publicly approving a crime of aggression (Section 138 of the International Criminal Code) in a manner likely to disturb the public peace at a meeting.” Pollman convicted Buecker of approving “Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in violation of international law, the illegality of which you knew.” In German law, it wasn’t Buecher’s speech but the substance of what the judge said he meant which was judged illegal. He was sentenced to pay a €2,000 fine or 40 days in jail.
A radio interview of Buecher by John Helmer and George Eliason of April 15, 2023, was first published here, but subsequently erased by the broadcast company TNT.
Buecher appealed, and on April 27, 2023, another Berlin judge named Marieluis Brinkmann (right) ruled after a 90-minute proceeding in which she repeatedly stopped Buecher and his lawyer from testifying in defence. Brinkmann announced that the first judge had correctly applied the law in finding Buecher guilty of the crime of supporting Russia. But she dismissed the conviction and fine on the ground that Buecher’s speech had been a private one in front of his “fans”, not a public speech at all. The Berlin prosecutor, who refused to give her name in court or to allow photographs of herself, then appealed to the higher, Berlin region court. The higher court judges refused to reinstate Buecher’s conviction, and the prosecutors began new appeals.
This month these appeals were dropped, and the prosecutors abandoned the case.
In a full statement issued this week, Buecher says: “The court case against me was finally discontinued in July 2024. The acquittal is therefore final. This means that I will no longer be prosecuted for my speech on 22 June 2022 on the occasion of the anniversary of the so-called Operation Barbarossa in June 1941. The public prosecutor’s office has now withdrawn the appeal against the acquittal, which was already issued in February 2024. As the operator of the COOP Anti-War Café, I was initially sentenced to pay a fine of 2,000 euros, alternatively 40 days in prison. The charge was ‘rewarding and approving crimes’ under Section 140 of the Criminal Code. We had appealed against the penalty order. The first public main hearing took place at the end of April 2023 at the Tiergarten District Court and ended with an acquittal. The public prosecutor’s office appealed against this. This meant that the case went to the next court level. The new trial took place on February 26, 2024 at the Berlin Regional Court and the court decided on acquittal. The public prosecutor’s office had initially appealed the verdict again, but has now withdrawn it after several months.”
Follow the archive of the Buecher case through the German courts and the German press coverage at the same link. The last working-class hero in England.
Clio the cat, ? July 1997 - 1 May 2016 Kira the cat, ? ? 2010 - 3 August 2018 Jasper the Ruffian cat ? ? ? - 4 November 2021
thx, hadn't heard of this case - another travesty of justice from a 'western democracy' (sic) (nm)
Indeed, a formalised version of being 'offended', which requires the accused person to apologise and atone for their statement, even if it was misunderstood, taken out of context etc. File next to 'that makes me feel unsafe'.
Remarkable what they can get away with when the power interests are on their side.
on July 25, 2024, 5:33 pm