Attack in Hanau: the state as a target

"Now that's not the answer I wanted to hear," said a Social Democratic MP when questioning a witness at the recent meeting of the committee of inquiry into the Hanau attack.

It is well known that politicians approach such bodies with a certain bias.

In fact, it is generally accepted that the sessions are used by the opposition to get the government into trouble.

A certain amount of overzealousness gives reason to hope that no error or grievance will remain undetected.

In the investigative committee of the Hessian state parliament, which is supposed to clarify the circumstances of the racist bloodbath of February 19, 2020, some actors do too much of a good thing.

One example is how the police use outdated technology.

Vili-Viorel Păun tried several times in vain to make an emergency call while chasing the perpetrator in his car.

Had he reached the police, they would have stopped him from driving and he would still be alive.

This is the serious allegation made by the father of the young victim, Niculescu Păun.

The left faction in the state parliament has adopted this position as its own.

The SPD keeps asking them as a question.

Talk grief and anger from the soul

Their discussion would probably have ended long ago if a fact published by the Hanau public prosecutor's office were not completely ignored.

The police files show that the perpetrator, Tobias R., shot the silver Mercedes that Păun was driving seven times before the chase.

He drove after the shooter running through the city.

When he reached his own car and started it, Păun continued the pursuit.

The assumption that the young man would have desisted if a police officer had told him on the phone that the man in front of him was very dangerous seems far-fetched in the light of what happened.

No one, one can assume, knew as well as Păun himself that he was risking his life in the face of the gunman's gun rage.

The fact that not all facts were discussed in the committee of inquiry is due to the well-intentioned direction.

In the first witness interviews, the relatives of the victims should be given the opportunity to talk their grief and anger off their chests in public.

And they should feel that the country where the monstrous act took place mourns with them.

"This is an insult to family members"

This probably explains why the MPs remained silent against their better judgment when the mother of one of the victims claimed that the Prime Minister of Hesse, Volker Bouffier (CDU), had told her in a personal conversation after the attack that he had done worse things in his job as a lawyer have experienced.

Bouffier was "a heartless, callous old man," the woman said in her pain.

As reported, the spokesman for the state government has definitely ruled out that Bouffier could have made such a statement.

But it's not just about the Union politician personally, but about the representative of the state.

In this committee, with his representatives and authorities, he is not the subject of a strict but serious investigation for some actors, but a target.

Even the deputies themselves must fear falling into disrepute.

Shortly before Christmas, an employee of the left-wing faction tweeted from the meeting that an FDP politician was reading the newspaper and a representative of the CDU had Airpods in their ears.

"This is an insult to the relatives and shows how little some people care about education," says the tweet, which caused outrage among liberals and the Union.

The mood between the groups is also weighed down by disagreements over which experts should be heard at the next meetings.

The FDP wants to present its applications for evidence together with the CDU and the Greens in the future.

She had made the push to set up the committee of inquiry together with the SPD and the left.

It is unusual for an opposition party to side with the government factions in a committee of inquiry.

Nevertheless, the body could still serve its purpose in the end.

At the latest when the representatives of the police are questioned, new findings could arise.

But even then, not every answer will turn out as hoped.