After riots in Baden-Wuerttemberg: How New Year's Eve has occupied the judiciary

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New Year's Eve 2023 in Baden-Württemberg: Not everyone fired firecrackers as peacefully as this man during the night

Photo: Arnulf Hettrich / IMAGO

A good six months after the turn of the year, it is now clear: Investigations have been initiated in Baden-Württemberg against 24 suspected New Year's Eve rioters. This emerges from a response by the Ministry of Justice to a request from the AfD parliamentary group in the state parliament, which is available to the German Press Agency.

Five times charges were filed, three times proceedings resulted in a fine by penalty order. One case was discontinued, another was handed over to another prosecutor's office. In 13 cases, the police are still investigating, it said.

In one case so far, a prison sentence has been imposed: The Heilbronn District Court had sentenced a then 30-year-old man to nine months in prison without parole in the so-called accelerated proceedings just a few days after New Year's Eve. He is said to have fired rockets in the direction of a group of children on the market square in Heilbronn. When the police wanted to check his personal details, he resisted and attacked the officers.

According to the district court, the man had, among other things, six previous convictions. He was deported to Tunisia in March, said a spokesman for the Ministry of Justice in Stuttgart.

In total, the ministry reported 45 suspects in connection with the New Year's Eve riots. Of 21 people who were traveling in Tübingen and Esslingen, the personal details were taken, but they could not prove any involvement.

Court proceedings in Berlin

On New Year's Eve, there had been attacks on emergency services, especially in Berlin, but also in Baden-Württemberg. In the federal capital, one of the alleged perpetrators will go to court this Tuesday. According to a spokeswoman, the first public trial before the Tiergarten district court is about a 23-year-old who is said to have thrown a firecracker in the direction of an official on New Year's Eve. The firecracker had landed in front of the man's feet. The policeman had supported the fire brigade in extinguishing an apartment fire in Berlin-Wedding, he remained unharmed.

The prosecution accuses the defendant of assaulting law enforcement officers, for which the law provides for a prison sentence of three months to five years. In addition, it is about attempted dangerous bodily harm. The public prosecutor's office has now brought charges in 18 cases and requested six penalty orders.

tgk/dpa