As we approach the end of the year the big question is: Which city will earn the distinction of being 2018’s Rape Capital of Germany?
For a long time it seemed that the winner would surely be Berlin, but then Freiburg lurched into the lead a few weeks ago. And now Munich is hustling to take the title.
The following video report discusses the case of a 15-year-old in Munich who reported being gang-raped by asylum seekers. The crime and subsequent arrests were kept out of the media for a few weeks — coincidentally, until just after the recent local elections in Bavaria.
Many thanks to MissPiggy for the translation, and to Vlad Tepes for the subtitling:
The article below from Bild, also translated by MissPiggy, contains additional details:
Suspects in Custody: Six Men Allegedly Raped Girl (15)
October 30, 2018
Munich — The Munich police have arrested five Afghan refugees; according to Bayerischer Rundfunk another alleged perpetrator is on the run. The allegation: They reportedly raped a 15-year-old girl.
The Munich public prosecutor confirmed to BILD upon request that there is an investigation involving a sexual assault and several people have been arrested. The spokesman did not want to comment further.
The case: The girl, who is being psychologically cared for, according to BILD’s information, had filed charges against her “partner” at the end of September. The asylum seeker is said to have verbally threatened her and thereby forced her to have intercourse. Also, he forced her to have intercourse with several his friends. She was so intimidated that she had to endure being abused by them all for several days. Each case is to be handled individually. Physical violence had played no role in the incidents.
In addition to the alleged victim’s partner, four other refugees (all between 20 and 25 years old) were arrested. The alleged perpetrators are registered asylum seekers. In the meantime, warrants have been issued against them on suspicion of rape. They are in custody.
The assaults are said to have occurred at the end of September. The first arrests were made four weeks ago.
Some interrogations remain to be conducted to substantiate the allegations made by the alleged victim, which is one explanation for why the authorities have not made the case public.
Some of the detainees admitted that they had intercourse with the minor, but said that it had taken place by mutual agreement.
Video transcript:
| 00:00 | Good evening. Just days after the horrible group rape in Freiburg, | |
| 00:05 | we learned today that a girl has been raped in Munich by several men. | |
| 00:11 | At the moment we don’t have very much information, but with us in studio today | |
| 00:15 | is Oliver Bendixen, our BR police expert. Good evening, what do we know at the moment? | |
| 00:19 | Let’s state the hard facts: An investigating magistrate in Munich issued six arrest | |
| 00:23 | warrants against six young Afghans on suspicion of rape. In a very rapid police action, | |
| 00:27 | along with the prosecutor’s office, five were arrested and the sixth suspect is | |
| 00:31 | currently being sought. The background to this unfortunate crime is that the victim, | |
| 00:35 | a 15-year-old girl, was the girlfriend of one of the Afghans who allegedly abused her | |
| 00:43 | Sexually, which is considered rape under the new criminal law. He then passed her around | |
| 00:49 | to his friends. The crime scenes involved several different apartments in the Munich | |
| 00:53 | metropolitan area and occurred over several days at the end of September. As soon as the police, | |
| 00:58 | together with the prosecution office learned of the case, they responded relatively quickly | |
| 01:02 | and within a short time had the suspects in custody, at least the ones they | |
| 01:07 | could find. —How reliable is the evidence? —It appears the Munich public prosecutor’s | |
| 01:11 | office still has some doubts, but the investigating judge also needs a certain | |
| 01:16 | amount of certainty to issue the arrest warrants. The police say the case requires | |
| 01:20 | further investigation. The official statement from the prosecutor’s office, which was | |
| 01:24 | released by the police, says a sexual offence has been committed for which five non-Germans | |
| 01:28 | were arrested. Other than that there was no further information. That is the latest update. | |
| 01:35 | And so all of this will be further investigated, and it involves the credibility of the girl, who is | |
| 01:39 | now in the care of the authorities. Everything will be examined in the coming weeks. | |
| 01:46 | How will the investigation proceed? —So the police and the prosecutor want to interview | |
| 01:51 | more witnesses. Especially the social environment of the victim and of | |
| 01:58 | the these six suspects, in order to establish the credibility of the 15-year-old girl. | |
| 02:04 | Why are we only hearing about this case now? —The Munich public prosecutor’s | |
| 02:08 | office says that there have been ongoing investigations which they did not want to | |
| 02:13 | disrupt. On the other hand, there was already a certain pressure, especially after | |
| 02:17 | the case in Freiburg about which we just spoke. It’s a tricky thing to keep the lid | |
| 02:21 | on something, because very quickly the idea comes up that the authorities want to cover | |
| 02:25 | up something or that the press does. We would also be a target, being accused of | |
| 02:29 | hiding something, because it involves young Afghans. It is very difficult | |
| 02:35 | and important to weigh the factors. Maybe they decided to leave it alone and | |
| 02:39 | not announce it, but now it’s out. In any case, we will remain on top of this story. | |
| 02:43 | Many thanks, Oliver Bendixen, our police expert. |