Altercation with police Order of punishment issued against Bonn journalist
Bonn · A dispute between the freelance journalist Marvin Oppong and Bonn police continues to keep the judiciary busy. While an order of punishment has been issued against Oppong, two officers are still under investigation.
The incident occurred on 2 May at Bertha-von-Suttner-Platz. It started with a traffic accident involving a police patrol car from Bonn. A 29-year-old woman was injured in the accident and had to be treated in hospital. As previous findings showed the patrol car caused the accident, the driver is being investigated for possibly causing bodily harm through negligence.
While the accident was being investigated and the accident scene secured, the journalist is said by police to have hindered emergency services and not adhered to a request to leave. Officers therefore took him into custody. “Resistance and violent attack against law enforcement officers in conjunction with bodily harm”, is the accusation against the journalist in the order of punishment, which the district court has issued at the request of the public prosecutor’s office and in which Oppong is sentenced to 100 daily fines of 30 Euros each. Oppong has lodged an appeal against this ruling. The matter will be heard publicly in court.
Oppong, on the other hand, is accusing the officers of disproportionate violence and has his own opinion about the motivation behind the conflict: he published the order of punishment on the Twitter internet service and added the keywords “police violence” and “racism”. An officer who clashed with the journalist is currently still under investigation for accusations of causing bodily harm while on duty. The public prosecutor’s office says the investigations are not yet complete.
Original text: Rüdiger Franz. Translation: kc
