Stuttgart (dpa / lsw) - In the affair about a letter passed on by a lawyer, Interior Minister Thomas Strobl has to pay a fine of 15,000 euros - the money goes to the White Ring and the probation service. The CDU politician said on Tuesday in Stuttgart that he would donate 7,500 euros each to the aid organization for crime victims and their families and to the Stuttgart probation service. The donation shows "that this is not a punishment. And before Christmas you can do good," said Strobl, emphasizing: "I stand by the fact that I have not committed a crime, that I am innocent." He repeated that a trial would have taken too much time and that he had therefore accepted the prosecutor's offer to drop the case against payment of a fine.
Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann (Greens), who has to appear as a witness in the committee of inquiry into the so-called police affair next Monday, said that the events had "never seriously affected" government action. With the cessation of the proceedings, that was legally “done for me for the time being”.
Strobl had passed a letter from the police inspector's lawyer to a journalist. According to investigations, the inspector, who has since been suspended, is said to have sexually molested a police officer in Stuttgart almost a year ago. The public prosecutor's office in Stuttgart recently brought charges of sexual assault.
Kretschmann criticized the behavior of the opposition in the U-Committee, which had "rather inflated" the disclosure of the lawyer's letter. "We live in very, very difficult times, so I would like things to be better sized." It was clear from the beginning that there were different legal opinions on the matter, said Kretschmann. Strobl had come under a lot of pressure because of the affair. The opposition demanded his resignation. The U-Committee is currently examining sexual harassment by the police as well as the promotion practice and Strobl's actions.
