The violent deployment of the Göttingen Evidence Collection and Arrest Unit (BFE) against deportation opponents on April 10, 2014, in Neuer Weg, Göttingen, was unlawful. This was the ruling of the Göttingen Administrative Court (VG) following an oral hearing on May 22, 2019, which fully upheld the lawsuit of a now 27-year-old Göttingen resident (Case No.: 1 A 296/16).
In the early morning of April 10, 2014, up to 60 people demonstrated against the deportation of a refugee from Somalia, ordered by the city of Göttingen, and temporarily blocked the stairwell of the apartment building where the refugee lived. The Göttingen BFE (Special Deployment Unit) cleared the stairwell using considerable force. The deportation was called off immediately after the operation.
The lawsuit filed by the then 22-year-old plaintiff concerned the immediate and unannounced use of pepper spray in the stairwell of the apartment building, as well as the use of disproportionate force in the form of pain holds and blows to the head. Due to the pepper spray and the blows, the young man temporarily lost consciousness and had to be treated by paramedics.
In the proceedings, the Administrative Court (VG) upheld the opinion of the Higher Administrative Court (OVG) of Lower Saxony in its judgment of October 28, 2016 (Case No.: 11 LB 209/15) . According to this ruling, the principle of predictability in police action already requires that the deliberate and intentional infliction of significant pain through the use of direct force be specifically and separately threatened beforehand. This had not occurred, rendering the operation unlawful on formal grounds.
The court therefore did not need to address the actual question of the proportionality of using irritant gas in enclosed spaces against a large group of people and the use of pain holds and punches to clear the blockage of a stairwell.
"The ruling already limits the use of force for the purpose of inflicting significant pain on a formal level and will have to be incorporated into police training," said attorney Sven Adam, who represents the plaintiff, welcoming the decision. "However, we would have been pleased if the question of the proportionality of the force used by the Göttingen BFE (Special Deployment Unit) that day could also have been addressed," Adam continued.
Two of the police officers involved in the operation retained a lawyer shortly before the court date to explore the possibility of refusing to testify due to potential criminal liability associated with the operation. The witnesses initially summoned were therefore dismissed before the court hearing.
Three charges brought by the Göttingen public prosecutor's office against opponents of deportation in connection with the incidents of April 10, 2014, ended on July 3, 2017, before the Göttingen District Court with acquittals (e.g., case no.: 34 Ds 32 Js 21154/14 (5/15)) or dismissals without conditions (case no.: NZS 34 Ds 32 Js 21154/14 (5/15)). Several other proceedings were discontinued during the preliminary investigation (e.g., against the plaintiff – case no.: NZS 32 Js 21154/14).
No investigations initiated against police officers in connection with the operation on April 10, 2014 are known to date.
