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Police officers, climate protester in Berlin (on 6 October)
Photo: Sean Gallup/Getty Images
According to the German Association of Judges, Berlin is the city with the highest number of criminal proceedings against climate protesters. This was the result of a survey of exemplary cities by the »Deutsche Richterzeitung« published by the Association of Judges. With actions such as road blockades, climate protest groups are particularly active in the capital. By the end of September, the Berlin public prosecutor's office had initiated around 2500,400 proceedings against members of the Last Generation, and more than 150 in the case of the group Extinction Rebellion. According to the Association of Judges, there have been more than <> judgments at the responsible district court in Tiergarten so far.
In other major German cities, the number of proceedings is much lower, as the survey revealed. According to the report, the Munich I public prosecutor's office has initiated 84 proceedings against several members of the Last Generation and other climate activists since the beginning of last year. In Cologne, there have been 29 proceedings against 157 identified defendants in the past year and a half. In Frankfurt, the public prosecutor's office has received 72 cases so far. The Leipzig authority reported 22 proceedings against 121 defendants.
So far, the criminal justice system has been able to process a large number of cases after climate protests quickly without any problems, said Sven Rebehn, Federal Director of the German Association of Judges. The climate demonstrators are usually accused of coercion and resistance to police officers, and some are accused of damaging property. As a rule, the proceedings end with fines.
Increased accelerated proceedings against climate protesters
In Berlin, the public prosecutor's office began to apply for accelerated proceedings against climate demonstrators in the summer. In June, the District Court of Tiergarten created the organisational prerequisites for this and adapted its business distribution plan.
The aim is to speed up the conclusion of criminal proceedings. So far, the public prosecutor's office has applied for an accelerated procedure in 63 cases – but this has been rejected 34 times so far (as of October 16).
Some public prosecutors' offices were unable to provide information because criminal proceedings against climate activists are not recorded separately in statistics. This was the case, for example, in Hamburg, it was said. As of 16 October, there were exactly 2577,419 cases against members of the Last Generation and <> against members of Extinction Rebellion, according to the authority.
lmd/dpa