29, June 2020
Germany investigates 30,000 suspects as online paedophilia probe widens 0
Germany is investigating 30,000 suspects as part of a probe into an online paedophile network, the latest in a series of child sex abuse scandals that prompted authorities to promise a crackdown.
The probe began last October with the arrest of a suspected perpetrator in Bergisch Gladbach, near Cologne.
But investigators digging into the case have turned up a far bigger paedophile network than expected.
“I did not expect, not even remotely, the extent of child abuse on the internet,” North Rhine-Westphalia’s justice minister Peter Beisenbach told reporters on Monday.
What the investigation team had uncovered was “deeply disturbing”, he said.
“We must recognise that child abuse on the internet is more widespread than we had previously thought.”
The cyber crime office in North Rhine-Westphalia is now “investigating 30,000 unknown suspects” in the case linked to the city of Bergisch Gladbach, said Beisenbach.
“We want to drag perpetrators and supporters of child abuse out of the anonymity of the internet,” he added.
Those being investigated are suspected of sharing “child and youth pornographic content” including “fictitious and/or real acts of abuse” in anonymous online discussion forums and chat groups, the cyber crime office ZAC NRW said in a statement.
To date, just over 70 suspects have been identified throughout Germany.
In May, the first offender — a 27-year-old soldier — was sentenced to 10 years in prison and placed in a psychiatric hospital for an indefinite period.
‘Emotional murder’
Germany has been shocked at the discovery of several serious cases of child sex abuse over the past 18 months.
In early June, 11 people were arrested on suspicion of sexually abusing children and filming their actions after videos and photos were seized from the cellar of a 27-year-old man from the city of Muenster, also in North Rhine-Westphalia state.
Investigators said they had identified at least three victims, aged five, 10 and 12 years old.
Officials said then that investigative capacities on child abuse had been increased, which would likely lead to the discovery of more cases.
The case triggered calls from politicians to crack down on those using and sharing child pornography, with calls for it to be classed as a crime rather than just an offence.
“Child abuse cannot be punished like shoplifting. It is murder. Not physically but emotionally. Anyone who molests children must be punished as a criminal, fullstop,” said North Rhine Westphalia interior minister Herbert Reul.
Justice Minister Christine Lambrecht in mid-June conceded offenders would in future receive a sentence of at least one year. “Anyone who commits such disgusting crimes must feel the full force of the law,” she said.
Campsite abuse
In an earlier scandal in Luegde, 125 kilometres (80 miles) from Muenster, several men abused children several hundred times at a campsite over a period of several years.
Prosecutors said more than 40 children fell victim to the men at the “Eichwald” campsite between 1998 and 2018, most of them between three and 14 years old at the time.
Some 33 witnesses, including 16 victims and 12 relatives, testified before the court in the trial, many of them behind closed doors.
Child sex abuse was also placed in the spotlight when police announced in May they suspected a German man of having murdered missing British girl Madeleine McCann.
The 43-year-old suspect, named as Christian B. by German media, has a long criminal past and a history of child sex abuse.
(AFP)
1, July 2020
Germany assumes EU presidency as Merkel pushes for massive bloc-wide recovery plan 0
Germany takes over the European Union’s six-month presidency Wednesday, with outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel staking her legacy on a massive economic recovery plan to help the bloc cope with the coronavirus fallout.
Merkel’s last major role on the international stage comes as the 27-member club faces its deepest recession since World War II, triggered by a pandemic that has killed more than 500,000 people globally.
The crisis has galvanised Europe’s most powerful leader who, with just over a year left in her final term, has ditched her usual wait-and-see approach to call for “extraordinary measures” to weather the storm.
“Europe’s future is our future,” Merkel said Monday as she stood beside French President Emmanuel Macron to push for a 750-billion-euro ($843 billion) coronavirus recovery fund.
The proposed fund would controversially be financed through shared EU borrowing and marks a stunning U-turn for Germany after years of opposition to debt pooling.
The EU’s rotating presidency is Merkel’s “last chance” to make her mark as one of Europe’s great leaders, Der Spiegel weekly wrote, adding that it was time for Germany to shoulder more responsibility as the bloc’s biggest nation and top economy.
“For years the chancellor put off dealing with the chronic problems of the EU and the euro. Now, towards the end of her political career, she has the opportunity to make up for past mistakes,” Spiegel wrote.
There will be no shortage of challenges to tackle in the months ahead.
Post-Brexit negotiations, a more assertive China, rocky transatlantic ties, climate change and the conflicts in Libya and Syria will all be jostling for attention, even if the pandemic promises to dominate the agenda.
‘Extraordinary solidarity’
Germany kicked off its EU custodianship by projecting the words “Together for Europe’s recovery” onto Berlin’s iconic Brandenburg Gate late Tuesday.
After 15 years in office, Merkel is the bloc’s longest-serving leader and held the EU presidency once before, in 2007.
But the stakes are higher this time.
A first major test will come at a July 17-18 EU summit, where Merkel hopes leaders will reach an agreement on the 750-billion-euro rescue fund put forward by European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen — Merkel’s former defence minister.
The money is expected to come mainly in the form of grants for countries hardest hit by the pandemic, such as debt-laden Italy and Spain.
But so-called frugal nations including Austria and the Netherlands want to reign in the spending and are insisting on loans rather than grants.
Merkel has urged holdout nations to “engage in an extraordinary act of solidarity”, warning that an uneven recovery could undermine the EU single market and end up harming stronger economies too.
“We hope we can find a solution, even if the road is still long,” Merkel said at the press conference alongside Macron.
Brexit warning
The fund is based on an idea unveiled by the French-German duo in May, in which the European Commission would raise money on the financial markets to help pay for the post-pandemic recovery in poorer member states.
If accepted, the rescue fund would be a milestone for EU unity.
It would also be a big win for Berlin, and could ease some of the lingering resentment from the eurozone debt crisis a decade ago when Merkel’s government insisted on harsh austerity for struggling nations like Greece.
Another contentious issue that could define Germany’s EU presidency is Brexit.
After weeks of standstill, Britain and the EU have resumed negotiations about the country’s divorce deal with the bloc — which could still result in a hard Brexit at the end of the year.
In an interview with several newspapers last week, Merkel warned that Britain would “have to live with the consequences” of having weaker economic ties with the EU.
Source: AFP