Asylum seekers regularly find protection from deportation behind church walls. The state often lets the helpers do as they please. In the case of an abbess from Upper Franconia, however, the public prosecutor’s office would like to achieve a conviction.
Bamberg (dpa / lby) – Because she granted people church asylum to protect them from deportation, an abbess is on trial in Bamberg today (3:15 p.m.). The woman is accused of aiding and abetting illegal residence in three cases, as a spokeswoman for the district court of Bamberg announced.
The abbess Mechthild Thürmer of the Benedictine monastery Maria Frieden in Kirchschletten in Upper Franconia (Bamberg district) is accused. The abbess has already granted church asylum more than a dozen times and has therefore rejected penal orders issued against her. In 2021, Thürmer was awarded the Lionheart Peace Prize for her commitment.
According to the information, the public prosecutor’s office accuses her of having taken in three women who were obliged to leave the abbey in 2018 and 2019. The abbess is said to have illegally prevented the deportation of the women to Italy or Romania.
The abbess’ lawyer, Franz Bethäuser, expects his client to be acquitted. The decision of the Bavarian Supreme Regional Court in February 2022 gives him confidence, as he told the German Press Agency. A year ago, the Free State’s highest ordinary court confirmed the acquittal of a monk in another church sanctuary process. At the time, the judges ruled that the accused monk had not committed an offense in the first place because he did not have to actively end the sanctuary. Bethäuser had also represented the monk in court.
According to the court spokeswoman, the fact that the abbess in Bamberg is now being tried is due to the fact that the charges were brought and admitted before the decision of the Bavarian Supreme Court. “Since the proceedings have not been discontinued, it will now be heard before the District Court of Bamberg.” According to her lawyer, the abbess had previously refused to drop the proceedings, as this would have meant in a way an admission of guilt.
