Parties: Commission in case yellow hair: bad testimony for green

The internal commission of the Greens for dealing with partly invented harassment allegations against the former Berlin member of the Bundestag Stefan Gelbhaar draws a devastating balance. A look at the allegations against yellow hair was too naive, is one of the central conclusions. The party’s board of directors admitted mistakes in a reaction, but also defended the work of the federal office. The ombuds procedure for the yellow hair case ends. The “star” had previously reported.

Damage to yellow hair and his party

The Federal Party’s ombuds’ office had allegations against yellow hair last year. After they became known and the topic in the media, he lost his direct candidacy for the Pankow constituency for the upcoming Bundestag election. Gelbhaar had previously declared his waiver of the candidacy on the state list of the Berlin Greens.

On the consequences for the Greens themselves, the authors of the report write, in which yellow hair is abbreviated as SG: “For the entire Green Party, the process around SG meant a significant damage to reputation and trust. He may also have affected the outcome of the Bundestag election.”

Only the Greens board knows the whole report

On January 30, the Greens commissioned the former Schleswig-Holstein Minister of Justice Anne Lütkes and the long-time member of the Bundestag and member of the Bavarian Constitutional Court, Jerzy Monday, to deal with the processes.

The report is said to have been completed a few weeks ago and was only published in a 25-page summary, which is based on the protection of personal data. The federal executive board was only twice as long as the original version, it said. She doesn’t know yellow hair itself either.

Gelbhaar himself welcomed the report. This should now be checked carefully. He told the German Press Agency about the events himself: “Invised allegations were placed, the rule of law was not met, there were massive violations of confidentiality, I did not notice the reports, it was not created any opportunity to comment.” And further: “The lack of clear statutes and structures has made the ombuds’ process a nightmarish, non -constitutional principles sufficient procedure.”

About the existing ombuds structures of the green cases of Lütkes and Monday a devastating judgment: “The previous ombuds procedure suffers from a lack of internal party legitimacy, a lack of procedural structures and a lack of procedural order as well as significant deficits and deficiency deficiencies.”

The use of the ombuds procedure for political purposes was clearly recognizable. Nevertheless, it was not considered that it could be “an at least organized procedure with a political objective”. The goal was recognizable to difficult or prevent the candidacy of yellow -haired on the state list. Yellow hair did not get the opportunity to explain or defend themselves in an internal party arbitration process.

It should have been striking that several reports had been received in a very short period of time for allegations that were partly declining, according to the report – right before the meeting for the state list on December 14th. However, this does not say anything about the truthfulness of the individual reports about the motives of all reports.

Federal board admits errors – and defends itself

The Federal Executive Board of the Greens defended itself against the accusation of an unsuspecting handling of the accusations against yellow hair. “A political instrumentalization of the reports was also considered possible from the beginning, but was not able to act alone in a statement in the risk assessment with a view to an ombuds’ procedure already known to the federal government and due to the number and range of the allegations contained in the reports,” he writes in a statement.

The politically responsible on the level of the district board, state board and federal board would have always acted to the best of our knowledge and belief and on the basis of the information available to them. Women would have reported, also to the Commission, and reported on experiences and observations, “which are not relevant under criminal law, but were perceived as infringing, inappropriate or attacking”.

“Structurally overwhelmed”

In view of the nearby Bundestag election, the case was “structurally overwhelmed” in view of the nearby Bundestag election. Despite the challenging situation in the beginning of the Bundestag election campaign, “everyone involved carefully and carefully took care of the treatment of reports within the scope of their possibilities.

The organization did not live up to its responsibility towards everyone involved – according to additional information, the party means “organization”. “Sufferers are Stefan Gelbhaar, as well as reporting people who, after the incorrect identity of another message, was no longer given sufficient trust in their descriptions.”

Case had consequences for yellow hair

Gelbhaar, who had previously won his constituency in Pankow as a direct candidate, has not been a member of the Bundestag since the election in February. His career as a parliamentarian has ended. As early as mid -December, he had waived a candidacy for the state list with reference to allegations against him, which were still unspecific at the time.

There were further media reports at the end of the year. At the beginning of January, yellow hair lost when repeating the choice for direct candidate. The ARD broadcaster Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB) withdrew in January with parts of his reports on annoyance allegations against yellow-haired.

Doubts about the identity of one of the women

In essence, doubts about the identity of one of the women who had assured the broadcaster the allegations. It turned out that the RBB had never hit the person. Yellow hair had always denied the allegations. The Berlin public prosecutor’s office is investigating the woman concerned about suspicion of the defamation.

After the incorrect reporting, the RBB spent personnel consequences. Editor-in-chief David Biesinger resigned, and RBB program director Katrin Günther also resigned. According to its own information, the RBB is faced with the millions of the Green politician in the millions.

Greens want new structures

The Greens now want to revise their ombuds structures, a working group should present details. The party congress in November should take a decision. The ombuds’ process in the yellow hair case should not be continued.

The chairpersons of the directly affected Berlin State Association of the Greens, Nina Stahr and Philmon Ghirmai, said that the state association had already started to further develop complaints and contact points. A care concept will be presented in autumn.

Report of the Commission and opinion of the Greens Federal Executive Board