How many people stood around the victim of a brawl – and did the bunch of men really try to keep the police officers away? Because of this allegation, ex-rocker boss Hanebuth has to go to court. His lawyer has a clear opinion – so does the court.
Hanover – Ex-rock boss Frank Hanebuth knows it: he sits visibly relaxed in the dock, grins occasionally while the witnesses speak, waves his hand one or the other, shakes his head in disbelief.
The charge: complicity in a brawl and dangerous bodily harm (Az: 230 Cs 129/21). His lawyer emphasized that the allegations could not be derived from the results of the investigation, that he did not know how criminal behavior should be assigned to his client: “I look forward to the matter completely relaxed,” he said. And indeed: The Hanover District Court dropped the case, as did the second defendant.
A court spokesman said the court, public prosecutor and defense had agreed on this. The evidence showed that the accusation of complicity and the joint plan with the – to this day unknown – racket does not bear. This is the main accusation off the table. Hanebuth and the co-accused 35-year-old would now have to pay 1000 euros each to the Violetta association, which campaigns against sexual abuse of girls and young women, within a month.
The current case was about a brawl in October 2020 – at that time a man was beaten up in Hanover’s red light district. The accusation against the defendants was: When the police wanted to help the victim, they and other men are said to have prevented the officers from doing so. The Hanover District Court issued a penalty order, according to which Hanebuth should be sentenced to six months imprisonment on probation. The ex-Hells Angels boss appealed against this – so the process came about.
Judge Monika Pinski called the police officers’ work “robust”: “You take your job seriously.” First, a 29-year-old policeman and his 32-year-old colleague ran up to a group of up to 20 people, in the middle of which was a man was beaten. They made their way to the victim with batons. This is how the officials remembered the night last October. They stood protectively in front of the victim, who was hit by a bald, fair-skinned man. Then they asked for reinforcements, the mood was aggressive. The 29-year-old said he had the impression that they wanted to block the officers’ way. Irritant gas was used. A 28-year-old police officer said the situation was “very threatening to me.”
The victim, a 24-year-old, said he was hit in the face, had lacerations on his lip and nose, and he still had a lump in his lip. He paid for admission, but was still not allowed into a club: “They were very cheeky with me.” Then the situation escalated and he should “piss off”. At the time of the dispute, according to Pinski, the man was drunk – 2.68 per mille had been measured. Another 24-year-old friend of the victim said: “We were a little drunk.”
It remained open until the end whether the men had really tried to keep the police officers away from the victim. Hanebuth’s defense lawyer wanted to know from the 29-year-old policeman why reinforcements were requested when the group had finally kept their distance from the policemen. “Are you serious?”, The officer asked back, slightly annoyed: “I won’t answer the question, that’s ridiculous.” Dpa
