German courts continue to hand out what are for most people in North America very light sentences for the nature of the crimes.
“Dagobert”
The “Dagobert” department store bombing case (see Police) wound slowly through the German courts, but the extortionist who went by the German name for “Uncle Scrooge” still got off lightly in the opinion of many observers. After the prosecution appealed Arno Funke’s March 1995 sentence of seven years and nine months, the German Federal Supreme Court for criminal cases (Bundesgerichtshof) threw out the sentence and ordered a retrial. In arguing the reopened case, Funke’s attorneys proposed a sentence of less than seven years, while the prosecution wanted ten and a half. In June 1996 the court settled on a compromise sentence of nine and a half years. Funke was released from prison in August 2000 after serving only six years.
The “Tunnel” Robbers
In 1996 the so-called “Tunnel” robbers went on trial. Despite the fact that the five accused men confessed to bank robbery, extortion, and the abduction of 16 hostages, the German court handed down sentences of just six to 13 years. (German news releases referred to this as “long sentences.”) This seems a bit lenient when one considers that the robbers held their hostages for 17 hours after stealing about 16 million marks ($12 million) from a branch of the Commerzbank in Berlin-Zehlendorf. The five crooks—variously from Lebanon, Syria, and Germany—were dubbed the “Tunnel” gangsters after they made their escape through a tunnel they had prepared in advance. A sixth robber was tried later. In 2008 a seventh suspect was located in Sweden, but he has yet to be tried. Most of the six others have already served their prison terms and been released. Rather unbelievable, since 10 million marks of the money they stole or extorted is still missing.
The Monica Seles Stabbing
An earlier notorious case, involving a German man who stabbed tennis champion Monica Seles (1973- ) during a 1993 match in Hamburg, also resulted in what would be considered a light sentence in much of the world, even though Seles was not able to play competively for over two years after the attack. Günter Parche, a fanatical Steffi Graf fan, only received a two-year suspended sentence for his crime, a fact that stunned even Graf herself at the time: “This will be yet another reason for those abroad to shake their heads in disbelief.” Parche admitted his attack, claiming he had done it to help Graf keep her top ranking in world women’s tennis. Now (2011) in his late 50s, he lives quietly with his aunt in a small town in Thuringia.
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Related Pages
- The Autobahnpolizei, the German “highway patrol”
- Autobahn
- Driving in Germany (with links)
- The Police (die Polizei)
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