Alt Rehser renegade: 77-year-old ends up in prison after being threatened!

Alt Rehser renegade: 77-year-old ends up in prison after being threatened!

A remarkable case from Alt Rehse near Penzlin is causing a lot of conversation in the region. A 77-year-old man was convicted of threatening and insulting police officers and now has to go behind bars. The appeal judge Urte Brinkmann had little mercy and rejected the appeal on the emphatic grounds that there was no positive social prognosis for the man. The senior is no stranger: with 23 entries in his criminal record, he is considered an outspoken enemy of the police and justice system.

The incident that led to this decision occurred in April 2023. Residents had alerted the police because the man was using a loudspeaker system at an excessively loud level. When the officers arrived, the defendant greeted them with a bizarre mix of insults and threats and charged at the police officers with a pitchfork. The district court decided that a prison sentence of eight months without parole was justified, which at first glance seems like a clear case.

Appeal and new trial

Although the defendant appealed, he limited himself to the sentence, which the judge and prosecutors interpreted as a kind of confession. The defense attorney Detlef Hein hoped for a suspended sentence, but quickly saw the basis for this disappear. Particularly explosive: During the appeal process, another fine was already pending against the man for insults. The prosecution asked for the appeal to be dismissed, which was ultimately done. The defendant has now filed an appeal against the appeal court's ruling, which will be forwarded to the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Higher Regional Court.

In the context of allegations of violent clashes between citizens and police, this old man's case is not the only one. In Göttingen, an acquittal was recently confirmed for a police officer who was accused of bodily harm. Unlike in the case of Alt Rehse, where the violence came from a citizen, the self-defense of the police officer was honored here. This proves that not only in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, but throughout Germany, the relationships between citizens and law enforcement officers are constantly being put to the test. The decision of the regional court, which rejected the co-plaintiff's appeal, shows how vaguely the boundaries between self-defense and excessive force are sometimes drawn from the perspective of the judiciary.

The case of the 77-year-old man will certainly cause discussions in the coming weeks. The link between personal feuds and an ongoing conflict between official authorities and citizens remains a hot topic. It will be interesting to see what new details the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Higher Regional Court will bring to light.