These sessions feed on him, you can see it now Herbert Reul. The North Rhine-Westphalian Interior Minister kneads his hands when he has to deliver a report on the events in Lügde on Thursday in the interior committee of the state parliament in Dusseldorf. More than 30 children, most of them between four and 13 years old, were apparently abused for years on a campsite in the small village near Detmold. Three suspects have been in custody since December.

It is already the second appearance of Reul to the committee. At the end of February, the CDU politician had reported for the first time on investigation errors in the police, of missing and overlooked evidence and a poorly secured crime scene. Already at that time the parliamentarians of the parliamentary groups listened to him with open mouths.

Since today it is clear: In the case of Lügde, the head shaking continues. When Reul arrives on page 15 of his speech manuscript, he clears his throat briefly. Then he says, "I have to tell you about another case here."

In early December 2018, Andreas V. was arrested, an unemployed permanent campers and the main culprit in Lügde abuse case. For the enlightenment was initially responsible for the district police Lippe. There they founded the investigation commission "Camping".

Soko leader is said to have cleared evidence

Now it turns out: The Soko leader is said to have manipulated evidence in previous cases for which he was responsible, and possibly evicted it. This is how Reul reports. It concerns the suspicion of the criminal foiling in the office and the seal break in several cases. Thus, in two investigations of the police officials from the years 2015 and 2016, important evidence was lost - as now in the abuse of Lügde.

In another case, it is also about a sexual offense. Also in the course of this procedure it has evidently turned out that "urgently needed evidence can not be found and thus in certain circumstances a proof of evidence can no longer be provided", as Reul says.

Between all cases there are "not insignificant points of contact", explains the Minister of the Interior. In other words: In the district police department in Lippe, it has happened again and again that evidence disappears without a trace. The investigation into the abuse case in Lügde are obviously no exception.

"It's getting hair-raising"

The police headquarters Bielefeld took over the investigation in January. It was noticeable that 155 CDs and DVDs were missing, which had been secured by Andreas V. at the campsite. A commissioner in Lippe had spotted the data carriers in December, although he was not qualified for it.

After that, he did not bring her back to the evidence room. Anyone who gave the apprentice the job of working through the evidence was unclear. He himself could not remember requests from special investigators.

Also in this regard, there is a new track since today. According to Reul, the official, now accused of punishment and seal breach, was the tutor of the Commissioner candidate. The former Soko boss has now been transferred to the Criminal Commissariat Bad Salzuflen, his former authority in Lippe has filed criminal charges against him and initiated a disciplinary procedure in early March. Reul says that he has initiated "temporary cessation of service against the police officer".

"If someone had written these events into a script for a film, that would have been said: This story is so hanebüchen, you can not do that," says the spD's domestic spokesman in the state parliament, Hartmut Ganzke. "It's getting more and more appalling here, it's incomprehensible, and the big danger I'm seeing right now is that perpetrators get away with it, and if that happens, the rule of law will be shaken."

Nothing can be ruled out anymore

When clarifying the case, nothing seems impossible. Almost every week new police services become known, three officers from the leadership of the police lip have already been transferred. Two other police are being prosecuted because they should not have forwarded any early evidence of child abuse to the Detmold district attorney.

The number of acts and perpetrators is increasing, the dimension of the crime is monstrous. The officials in Bielefeld meanwhile evaluate 3.3 million pictures and almost 90,000 videos, which have been secured with the arrested men. In the special organizational structure "Eichwald" about 60 police officers are employed, who pursue so far almost 500 investigative tracks. When colleagues in Lippe were still investigating in December, initially only four officials took care of the case.

Why was he underestimated for so long and so dramatically? One of many open questions.

Meanwhile, the number of victims is increasing, so far, the investigators went out of 31 children affected. In the committee, Reul says that three new victims have been added. There are also 14 "other suspects". It is about children, who are seen in the pictures and in the videos, but could not be identified yet. The injured were girls and boys. "All are cared for by victim protection measures," says Reul.

"This is not a victim protection measure"

The minister's words sound as if experts are taking care of the children and parents concerned, as if the traumatized were taken care of. A representation that contradicts Roman von Alvensleben, however. The Hamburg lawyer represents a ten-year-old girl who was said to have been abused by Andreas V.

"My client and her single mother have been left by the authorities so far absolutely alone," says von Alvensleben the SPIEGEL. "They get help now, but only through our own initiative." The mother had to look after a pastor himself. Von Alvensleben says he has applied to the court for his client to have at least one psychosocial process attendant.

"This is about 30 abuse victims," ​​says the lawyer, "I would have expected someone to say: We provide you with a specially trained psychologist or psychologist, day and night, and that will be from It is not enough to give a telephone number to a counseling center, it is not a victim protection measure. "

His client has already testified in October 2018 to the police. However, she will now again interrogated by the new investigators from Bielefeld. At the first questioning, says von Alvensleben, mistakes had been made. The probative value of the statements of the girl was reduced by the bad questioning technique of the police.

"My client subsequently came up with details, but that alone shows that it was not done right," he criticizes. Civil servants are today specially trained to hear underage abuse victims. A policewoman in Lippe was also trained, but not involved in the interviews of children. Why? Perhaps Interior Minister Reul will then be able to answer that in the next committee meeting.