The Causa Wiegand picks up speed again. While the regional court exonerates the mayor in the vaccination affair, the state administration office is putting forward further misconduct. But the suspended mayor is pushing back into office.
Halle (dpa/sa) – For the time being, the district court will not lead a trial against Halle’s suspended mayor, Bernd Wiegand (independent). The court rejects the opening of the main proceedings against the mayor and his office manager for alleged manipulation of the vaccination sequence in the context of corona vaccinations, a spokesman for the court said on Friday.
The Grand Trial Chamber concluded that the facts with which he was charged did not constitute a criminal offence, the spokesman said. The two accused are said to have instructed the head of the vaccination center in January 2021 to vaccinate several members of the city administration, regardless of the vaccination order that was in force at the time. Among other things, this was the reason for the accusation of embezzlement against Wiegand. Wiegand had also been accused of falsifying evidentiary data.
“Misappropriating embezzlement is a property crime and presupposes that the perpetrator appropriates an item for himself or for a third party in an unlawful manner,” the spokesman for the regional court explained the decision. An infringement of property in the sense of an unlawful appropriation of individual vaccine doses is not to be seen in the incidents surrounding Wiegand’s vaccination and other employees.
The decision is a partial success for the suspended mayor of the city on the Saale. However, the public prosecutor’s office can appeal against the decision of the district court.
Wiegand’s stage victory was followed shortly afterwards by the next blow to the neck for the suspended mayor: the state administration office has expanded the disciplinary proceedings against him. According to a letter from the state administration office to the city council, which is available to the German Press Agency, he is suspected of having committed a disciplinary offense through further “acts”. Wiegand are accused of deliberately untruthful statements before the district court. He is also said to have used official resources for private purposes.
Despite the recent allegations, Wiegand is pushing back into office. Wiegand said on Friday, referring to the district court’s decision, that he expects the President of the State Administration Office to “immediately lift the provisional suspension that has now become irrelevant”. According to the city administration, his representative – Mayor Egbert Geier (SPD) – “took note” of the decision of the district court. Geier didn’t want to say more at first.
“The decision (of the district court) initially does not have a direct impact on the disciplinary proceedings and the suspension,” said a spokeswoman for the state administration office. The official assessment is “based on deviating obligations that are not readily equated with behavior sanctioned by criminal law”.
“The suspension by the city council was made exclusively on the basis of disciplinary law or civil service law,” said city council chairwoman Katja Müller (left). Criminal law is not the responsibility of the city council or the state administration office. “The fact is that the deep breach of trust between the city council and the mayor (…) was not based on a criminally relevant offense by the mayor.”
City councilor Torsten Schaper (FDP) also spoke of two completely different strands. In addition, a moral aspect is also fundamental when considering the Causa Wiegand. Schaper emphasized that the FDP parliamentary group would agree to Wiegand’s suspension again, also against the background of the current regional court decision.
Wiegand had come under massive criticism for his premature corona vaccination in 2021. As part of the investigation, the mayor stumbled, got involved in contradictions and was finally suspended by the city council. Disciplinary proceedings and investigations by the public prosecutor followed.
