Allegedly ignorant prosecutors, a biased judge and unacceptable conditions at the district hospital in bayreuth: gustl mollath from nurnberg, who has been held against his will in a psychiatric hospital for seven years, used his appearance before the state parliament's investigative committee on tuesday for a general reckoning with the judiciary, tax authorities and psychiatry. Despite the committee members' request that he concentrate on answering the questions, mollath repeatedly took a roundabout approach.
Mollath complained that neither tax investigators nor public prosecutors had reacted at the time to his conclusive indications of black-money transactions by the hypovereinsbank. "No one has contacted me in response to my letters", criticized the 56-year-old. Even his 106-page explanation of the bank's illicit money transfers to switzerland, which he had uncovered, apparently did not interest the investigators.
At the same time, the machine builder denounced what he considered to be unacceptable accommodation in the psychiatric hospital in bayreuth. Mollath has been housed there for years. The man, who appeared calm and disciplined, reported, for example, that he had been subjected to repeated "house checks" at night of the clinic staff. "I suffer massively from lack of sleep because of it."
He experienced things there that he would not wish on his worst enemy. "Should I have to remain in preventive detention for life, I would like to be placed in a proper prison." the conditions there are certainly more bearable than in the closed psychiatric hospital.
At the same time, mollath surprised the public by pointing out that he had deposited further incriminating material on the alleged illicit money transfers in france and switzerland. Knowing the explosive nature of the material, he sent documents, for example, to the office of journalist and nazi journalist beate klarsfeld in paris. Another part of his evidence, on the other hand, had been lost at the auction of his house in nurnberg.
Mollath was committed to a psychiatric clinic in 2006 on suspicion of being a danger to the public – because, according to the verdict at the time, he had severely abused his wife and slashed the tires of several dozen cars. Mollath himself and many of his supporters believe that he was the victim of a conspiracy by his former wife and the judiciary, because he had uncovered illicit money transactions worth millions of euros.
The trial was "simply hell"
Mollath also took a hard line with the now-retired chairman of the 7. Criminal division at the district court of nurnberg-furth, which had ordered his placement in a psychiatric ward. The court hearing on 8. August 2008 was "simply hell", the 56-year-old criticized. The judge had been biased and aggressive towards him from the start. Screaming, he forbade him to go into the alleged black-money transactions again, although they had been relevant for the assessment of his case.
Mollath's friend edward braun also reported bad experiences with the nurnberg judiciary and the bavarian ministry of justice. In 2011, the dentist, who comes from bad pyrmont, had approached the public prosecutor's office in nurnberg-furth with his findings on the mollath case, and later also the bavarian justice minister, beate merk (CSU). Instead of examining his evidence, however, he "never received an answer from either of them that I could relate to. In the end, I felt lost".
Mollath stood by the accusations of black money against his wife, even though she had denied them in a newspaper interview published tuesday. Mollath explained that the banker had initially illegally transferred black money from bank customers to switzerland on behalf of her employer, the hypovereinsbank. Later, she had even threaded black-money transfers behind the bank's back.
The deputy chairman of the investigative committee, florian streibl, stated after the meeting that the judiciary has a blindfold, but should not have earplugs. SPD committee member inge aures, meanwhile, warned against expecting too much from the investigative committee: "we are not a court of law. We can therefore not get mr. Mollath out of the psychiatric hospital either." mollath's lawyer gerhard strate, meanwhile, does not rule out the possibility that his client will be released before the state election.
