Two years ago,on May 2. Police officers in Mannheim beat a mentally ill man to death in the city center. Now, last Friday, the trial ended with a scandalous verdict in favor of the murderers.
The trial for the murder of Ante P. started at the beginning of this year. Even though it was evident throughout the trial, it became particularly clear at the end, how openly the court tries to cover up their "colleagues" of the police. Even if everyone can see, that they have blood on their hands.
On 02.05.2022, the police were contacted by Ante's treating psychiatrist due to a psychiatric admission. The reason for this was an acute episode of paranoid schizophrenia. Cynically, the reason for the forced admission in the psychiatry was calculated to prevent Ante from hurting himself in this condition. Two policemen who were looking for Ante finally found him and tried to take him away. However, they were not calm and sensitive, but proceeded extremely aggressively. On the beginning, when Ante did not want to come with them, they immediately sprayed him with pepper spray, without him having behaved violently towards the police before. After being sprayed with pepper spray, Ante, who was already in a state of mental emergency, ranin panic away. At the market place, the cops then catch him and violently brought him to the ground.The market place is a busy square in the middle of the city. Consequently, there were also numerous people who see and filmed the police operation. This is also where the scenes of Ante's murder, which are widely circulated on the Internet, were filmed. Ante is pinned to the ground by the two cops, while he is repeatedly hit in the face by one of the cops with full force. Shortly after the punches, he remains motionless. He dies on the spot.
The main defendant, a 27-year-old police officer, was convicted, but only for bodily harm and with a very small sentence. He sprayed Ante with pepper spray and hit him several times on the head with quartz gloves. He was sentenced toa payment of 120 daily rates with 50 euros each. The second defendant is the other cop who pinned Ante to the ground with the other defendant while his coleague was beating him. He was charged in court with failing to render assistance and was ultimately acquitted. With the sentences made, it is possible for both to continue their work in the police. A mockery of Ante and all other victims of police violence.
Unlike the most cases of deadly police violence, this case was very well documented. Nevertheless, the murderers were able to come out of the trial without consequences. The basis for this was a clear will of the court to protect the perpetrators. The reasoning given by the court to justify the judgment is flimsy to the point of downright absurd. During the proces, there were several expert opinions on the specific cause of Ante's death, each of which came to different conclusions. The prosecution's expert opinion had determined suffocation as a result of police violence. The expert opinnion commissioned by the defense, named the man's heart failure as the cause of death.
The fact that there were these different expert opinions is now being used by the court to claim that it cannot be proven that the police operation is connected to Ante's death. While videos of Ante dying immediately after being beaten by the police can be found all over the internet, according to the court, it is allegedly impossible to say for sure whether this is really related. It's as if Ante had had a heart attack just by chance, at the moment he was beaten up. But it is very clear that Ante would still be alive without the intervention of the police. We could not see such an absurd "in case of doubt for the accused" mentality in the so-called Antifa-Ost trial and in other trials against anti-fascists.
However, the murder of Ante was not entirely without consequences. Immediately after the deadly police operation, the "Initiative 02 May" was founded.Together with Ante's family and friends, they organized protests against police brutality and fought for justice for Ante and other victims of the police. On the occasion of the pronouncement of the verdict, the initiative calling for a rally on Mannheim's market square on March 15 at 5 p.m.
