https://www.focus.de/politik/deutsc...i-nach-gruppenvergewaltigung_id_13541806.html
At the beginning of June, three men are said to have raped a woman in Leipzig. The victim was able to describe the perpetrators very specifically. The police also used the information about the apparently Arab origin of the men to call a witness – and triggered violent reactions on social media. There is no trace of the criminals.
On June 8, 2021, between 7.30 p.m. and 8 p.m., a hideous crime occurred near Leipzig Central Station. The police officially speak of a “serious sexual offense,” and the public prosecutor’s office is investigating an unknown person. Accusation: “Sexual assault; sexual coercion; rape.”
Legally speaking, the prosecutors’ wording is correct. Of course, another term has gained acceptance among the population that describes brutal and inhuman crimes of this kind quite aptly: gang rape.
Gang rape in Leipzig: the victim is in her mid-30s
The word has made headlines over and over again in recent years. Freiburg, Mülheim an der Ruhr, Düsseldorf, Krefeld, Ulm – the list of cases in which several men have attacked and raped a woman goes on.
So now Leipzig. The victim – according to FOCUS-Online information, a woman in her mid-30s – was on that day in the center of the Saxon city and in the evening went north on Kurt-Schumacher-Strasse. “There she was initially surrounded by three previously unknown men and pushed into an abandoned property at the level of the house property No. 12,” said the police. There a “collective rape” by the trio took place.
Police on injured party: “She went through hell”
According to the investigators, there are “no doubts” about the serious crime. This assessment is important because the woman in question did not report to the police until several weeks after the incident. It is also relatively unusual that after such a long time she was still able to give very specific descriptions of the three men. So she remembered the exact shape of a necklace and a belt buckle.
Speaking to FOCUS Online, an investigator confirmed that the woman must have actually experienced martyrdom according to what is known so far. “She went through hell,” he said. “There was massive trauma.” In order to protect the victim’s interests, no further information about the crime would be provided, the official said. This also applied to the question of whether usable DNA traces could be secured or whether there are usable images from surveillance cameras. In view of the fact that it happened a long time ago, this was unlikely.
Experienced victim lawyer represents woman from Leipzig
The raped woman is represented by the Leipzig lawyer Ina Alexandra Tust. The lawyer from North Rhine-Westphalia is one of the most renowned victim lawyers in Germany. She mainly takes care of victims of sexual crimes and capital offenses. In many spectacular cases of child abuse and murder, Tust has represented the parents’ accessory prosecution and assisted the bereaved. The lawyer did not want to comment on the case of group rape in Leipzig.
How sensitive the disclosure of certain procedural details is was shown by the call for witnesses published by the Leipzig police on July 6, 2021, shortly after the woman reported the crime four weeks ago. In the appeal, the investigators asked for help in finding the three suspects. In doing so, they provided fairly precise personal descriptions, which were made according to the victim’s statements and which FOCUS Online published again at this point.
Perpetrator 1: about 1.80 meters tall, 30 to 40 years old, darker skin color, dark hair, dark eyes, dark baseball cap (worn the wrong way round), dark surgical mask, dark T-shirt, dark pants, no flip-flops Socks.
Perpetrator 2: about 1.80 meters tall, 30 to 40 years old, darker skin color, dark eyes, dark surgical mask, dark baseball cap, long-sleeved T-shirt, jeans, dark shoes, silver chain with large round links.
Perpetrator 3: about 1.85 meters tall, 30 to 40 years old, darker skin color, dark eyes, arms were very hairy, spoke broken German, dark baseball cap, dark surgical mask, dark blue T-shirt, a laughing yellow on the left side of the chest Sun, jeans with a brown belt and a shiny chrome belt buckle.
“Arabic phenotype”: heated debate over description
According to the raped woman, the three men had one thing in common. Something the police explicitly mentioned in their call for witnesses: “Arab phenotype.”
The reference to the possible region of origin of the perpetrators triggered violent reactions on the Internet. The call for witnesses reached more than 150,000 readers on the Leipzig police channels on Facebook and Twitter alone – and was controversially discussed.
Especially on Twitter, users were bothered by the “description of the phenotypes,” as a police spokeswoman confirmed to FOCUS Online. There were “numerous user comments” on Facebook with xenophobic statements. Even if the police’s social media team hid the worst posts – many entries in which users let their xenophobia run wild, attack the police and promote vigilante justice are still available today.
Racist comments on social networks
There is talk of “animals” and of “rats” whose heads have to be torn off, of “scraps” and “disgusting packs”. One user explains: “Arabs are the very last thing,” another demands that the perpetrators be brought to the “end of the world” and locked up there. “The state,” “politics” or “the police” are always attacked as supposedly inactive and incompetent. “When will we finally be done here?” asks a Facebook user and announces that he would like to practice vigilante justice: “Even if it is a criminal offense, I would take care of it myself!”
Emotional propaganda against foreigners and general criminalization of asylum seekers shape many comments, but there are also counter-speeches. Someone noted: “It is unbearable that for many racists the origin of the perpetrator is more important than empathy with the victim! Police in Saxony will see that the number of German suspects is higher than that of foreign ones. ”
Police intervene on Twitter: “That’s not true”
With references to the crime statistics, writers find it difficult to assert themselves. Their requests to think more about the victim’s worries and less about the perpetrators’ origins are also seldom met with open ears. The Saxon police know all too well how difficult it is to fight false claims on social networks.
A Twitter user wrote after describing the perpetrators of the Leipzig gang rape: “Darker skin color, Arab phenotype. As usual … “The police reacted promptly: “That’s not true. Usually the perpetrators are husbands, partners, friends or acquaintances and Germans. You can find more information in the annual police crime statistics.” The user’s reaction was not long in coming. He accused the police of “lying bulls–t.”
Only a few hints were received – and not a hot lead
Although the call for witnesses of the crime was a major topic of discussion on the Internet – it has so far not really brought the investigators any further. The number of clues moves “in the lower double-digit range,” said a police spokeswoman to FOCUS Online. “None of these references produced a content justified with a suspicion of a crime.” Put plainly: No hot leads. The public search continues.
