Investigations against the Interior Minister of Baden-Württemberg in the police case

Thomas Strobel (CDU), Minister of the Interior of Baden-Württemberg, is under pressure
Source: Bernd Weissbrod / dpa / Archive
The Stuttgart Public Prosecutor’s Office is investigating Baden-Württemberg Interior Minister Thomas Strobel: The CDU politician is said to have passed on a confidential message from a lawyer to a journalist. The letter deals with a case of sexual assault in the police department.
meIn a case related to the unauthorized disclosure of court documents, the Stuttgart Public Prosecutor’s Office has launched investigations against Baden-Württemberg’s Interior Minister, Thomas Strobel (CDU). The agency announced this Wednesday. Strobel had previously admitted the facts himself: he conveyed a letter from a lawyer to a journalist in an affair about allegations of sexual assault by a senior police officer. Then the internal message reached the audience.
Prosecutors now suspect that Strobel carried out the incitement under Section 353d of the Criminal Code, which prohibits the publication of an indictment or other official document of a criminal case before it is publicly discussed. The penalty is a fine or imprisonment not exceeding one year. The Public Prosecution also opened an investigation with the journalists involved on suspicion of violating this paragraph.
Strobel admitted at a special meeting of the Interior Committee on Wednesday that he conveyed an official letter from the lawyer of a police officer suspected of coercion to a journalist. He said he was concerned with “avoiding harm to the state police”. Strobel initially halted the prosecutor’s investigation into the question of how the letter had reached the public.
Following the meeting of the Interior Committee, Strobel admitted there were communication errors about the prosecutor’s investigation, but stressed that “maximum clarity and maximum transparency” were “the most important things” for him. Strobel has been Home Secretary in Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann’s coalition (the Green Party) since 2016.
The opposition accuses him of passing official secrets, violating his duty of care and initially misleading the public about divulging the letter. Demands for his resignation had already come from the SPD and the FDP, which Strobel rejected.
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