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Cologne attacks victims still searching for justice


Guest CzarnaWisnia

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Guest CzarnaWisnia

Soon to be the third anniversary of "the worst mass sexual attacks against women in peacetime Europe". You know, the ones that never get talked about.

 

Victims of the Cologne sex attacks are still searching for justice

Paulina Neuding
 
https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2019/05/victims-of-the-cologne-sex-attacks-are-still-searching-for-justice/

The mass sexual assaults around Cologne’s main railway station on New Year’s Eve 2015 rocked Germany, not just because of their scale (police believe hundreds of men were involved) but because of the sense that news of the attacks was being suppressed, and its links to the migrant crisis then at its peak, denied. In response to public anger, Chancellor Angela Merkel was moved to promise that the crimes would be met with a ‘hard response from the state’.

Three years on, what has happened to that response? In terms of resources, German authorities have delivered on Merkel’s promise. It has been followed by one of the most extensive criminal investigations in the history of modern Germany. More than 600 victims of sexual offences have been questioned. Thousands of hours of CCTV footage have been reviewed with the help of so-called ‘super recognisers’ from Scotland Yard.

As the inquiry draws to a close, however, the results are meagre. Several men have been convicted of theft, robbery, and similar crimes. But no more than three have been convicted for involvement in sexual assaults – an Algerian, Iraqi and Libyan national. According to a report by the German weekly Der Spiegel in March, these men had provided the prosecution with crucial evidence by taking pictures of themselves with their victims. One of them was sentenced to one year and nine months in prison, while the two others received suspended sentences.

It is now safe to conclude that the vast majority of the men involved will walk free and be allowed to continue living in Germany, mingling with women on public transport and claiming welfare benefits, possibly for the rest of their lives.

The Cologne attacks took place at the height of the migration wave when authorities had lost control over the influx of migrants into the country. Many of those in positions of authority refused to accept any link between the attacks and the refugee crisis. According to the first Vice President of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans, the events should be regarded merely as a matter of ‘public order’. During a closed meeting, the leadership of the European Commission vowed to act as a ‘voice of reason’ and reject any suggestion that migration had anything to do with it.

In the spring of 2016, an official report published by the North Rhine-Westphalian government put an end to this speculation. It not only concluded that a vast majority of the suspects were non-German nationals. It also showed how this fact obstructed the criminal investigation: ‘The registration of incoming asylum seekers since the summer of 2015 has been inadequate throughout Germany. This means that, for a non-insignificant proportion of foreign individuals, it is a problem that the persons are not yet registered in the German alien register… The fact that people are to some registered under the wrong identity makes investigation difficult…’

The inquiry into the mass attacks in Cologne also highlights the fact that the civilian criminal process in European democracies is hardly designed for crimes on such a massive scale, even if the state offers almost limitless resources. At times, more than a hundred police officers have worked on the investigation – an operation of a size normally reserved for terror attacks in Germany. That is something to bear in mind when we discuss welcoming home Isis terrorists to stand civilian trial for crimes committed in a war zone, where investigators will have little or no access to evidence. ‘A hard response’ from the German state meant that only a handful of suspects have been held accountable for the worst mass sexual attacks against women in peacetime Europe. In the end, it came down to their own selfies.

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This article from last May contradicts much information of the issue published for almost three years. Which makes it suspicious. 

One thing I'll say: it's almost impossible to create a lie that involves all German media to defend refugees. If only, refugees have been vilified by media, not protected. So I really doubt this article is telling the truth. Especially if you remember that Boris Johnson was for years chief editor of The Spectator.

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Guest CzarnaWisnia
1 hour ago, karbatal said:

This article from last May contradicts much information of the issue published for almost three years. Which makes it suspicious. 

One thing I'll say: it's almost impossible to create a lie that involves all German media to defend refugees. If only, refugees have been vilified by media, not protected. So I really doubt this article is telling the truth. Especially if you remember that Boris Johnson was for years chief editor of The Spectator.

It took days for the media to report on this (social media outrage pushed them to). The Mayor of Cologne gave the victims a "tip": they could have been more careful. A leaked police memo alleged the ministry of interior pressured the police to tame down their report (to remove the word "rape"). The ministry's own report later stated the overwhelming majority of suspects are foreign nationals. The whole thing is now widely documented. If the West's English journalists didn't bother to report the fallout, it's too bad for the truth and only furthers people's distrust of government and the media. It's the victims of these crimes that have been most vilified, and continue to be.

It's strange how progressives in the West are so worried about their own conservatives, but are completely unworried about conservatives from foreign countries. Of course no one wants to encourage racism, which is fine until it leads people to lie or keep silent about crimes. The road to hell is paved with good intentions. American colleges want to force affirmative consent classes on timid male students, but society can't do the same for migrants coming from gender repressive societies in the world?

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What about you reading the reports for the whole 2017 and 2018 about the issue instead of trying to mold our minds with text from an outlet whose main interest is to fuel xenophobia? 

Your efforts here to prosecute a certain religion are not only nauseating but also border hate speech. Your views of the world have no place in the Madonna universe, let alone in Madame X message.

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Funnily enough, in a world full of so-called prestigious media, I still put my trust in those pages who try to expose fake news

https://www.snopes.com/news/2016/01/11/refugees-new-years-eve/

Did Refugees Ruin New Year’s Eve?

An outbreak of sexual violence across Germany during New Year's revelries is being popularly blamed on asylum seekers and migrants.

 

On New Year’s Eve, as revelers worldwide gathered to celebrate the arrival of 2016, the city of Cologne, Germany, was beset by a rash of assaults and robberies.  Police said that they received hundreds of complaints, which included at least two reported rapes, in a string of attacks that lawmakers said may have been coordinated (an aspect that law enforcement disputed).

Police — and the media — were quick to blame refugees and immigrants, saying the attacks involved possibly hundreds of men, who many described as being of “Arab appearance.”  A report from 10 January 2016 found that the suspects detained so far, who have not as yet been charged, were foreign-born.  At least nineteen men are being investigated, of whom ten are seeking asylum while the other nine are believed to be in the country without documentation.

This has been enough for much of western Europe to blame Germany’s relatively open immigration policy, which in the wake of the Cologne attacks has received a fresh round of criticism. However, rape and street harassment is not something that occurs in only one part of the world, as lawyers and other critics have pointed out.  Critics have also said that the description of the possible suspects is incomplete, and an inadequate police response is also to blame for the attacks, which took place not just in Cologne that night but in eight different cities across Germany.

While it’s possible that all of the attackers were, indeed, immigrants or asylum-seekers, the everyday atmosphere in Cologne (and other German cities) might suggest otherwise.  One activist told German news outlet Deutsche Welle that women have been putting up with street harassment and sexual assaults since long before the refugee crisis began:

“Because refugees are now a burning topic, the media all of a sudden report about these events, but what nobody wants to admit is that these things happen all the time. I’m sorry to break this to you, but German-born men also harass and rape.”

Incidents of anti-refugee violence (and “human hunts“) are already brewing in Germany as a direct result of the New Year’s events, despite pleas from the government to not jump to conclusionsuntil the investigation is complete.  Germany’s Justice Minister Heiko Maas told the press that “some people appear just to have been waiting for the events of Cologne,” adding:

As abominable as the crimes in Cologne and other cities were, one thing remains clear: there is no justification for blanket agitation against foreigners.

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Guest CzarnaWisnia
28 minutes ago, karbatal said:

What about you reading the reports for the whole 2017 and 2018 about the issue instead of trying to mold our minds with text from an outlet whose main interest is to fuel xenophobia? 

Your efforts here to prosecute a certain religion are not only nauseating but also border hate speech. Your views of the world have no place in the Madonna universe, let alone in Madame X message.

What are those reports? I'm interested to know. The snopes report dates from January 2016.

Your accusations are ludicrous, by the way. Cut down the caffeine and calm down.

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You expect me now to bring proof? You poison and then it's us who have to work to refute? 

Well, in this case it's easy. About the Cologne and Frankfurt situation: 

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/02/07/frankfurt-police-investigate-claims-cologne-style-sexual-assaults/

About the fake news campaign linking rape and immigration: 

https://m.spiegel.de/international/germany/is-there-truth-to-refugee-sex-offense-reports-a-1186734.html

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And let's not forget reports like this one...

Cologne Sex Attacks: Only Three Out Of 58 Men Arrested Are Refugees, Prosecutor Reveals

 
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Right-wing demonstrators hold a
JUERGEN SCHWARZ/AP
Right-wing demonstrators hold a sign

After refugees were blamed for thieving from, sexually assaulting and raping women in Cologneon New Year's Eve, new evidence has emerged to suggest they were in the drastic minority of perpetrators. 

Just three of the 58 suspects arrested in connection with January's mass sex attack were refugees, local public prosecutor Ulrich Bremer has confirmed. 

The German legal official said two Syrians and one Iraqi had been detained by police as part of their inquiries, contrary to the hysteria caused by headlines which accused hordes of refugees of masterminding the assault. 

Unnamed police sources were previously used to attribute claims Syrian refugees were those behind the attacks, in a move branded "demagoguery" by Human Rights Watch director Kenneth Roth. 

 

Despite all the demagoguery, only 3 of the 58 Cologne attackers identified were refugees. http://bit.ly/1Tii9ow 

View image on Twitter
 
 
 
 

Those of migrant descent did make up large numbers of the arrested; a full list of nationalities of those accused stands at 25 Algerians, 21 Moroccans, three Tunisians, three Germans, two Syrians and an Iraqi.

But Kris Pollet, acting secretary general of the ECRE (European Council on Refugees and Exiles), said the news that significantly fewer refugees had been involved in the attack than previously believed should "counter the anti-refugee agenda some groups have been pushing since Cologne". 

"It shows how dangerous it is to make sweeping generalisations about such events without establishing the facts first," he told The Huffington Post UK. 

"This is about violence against women and should be addressed as such, regardless of the status and background of those suspected of having committed such acts. 

"It is important for the authorities to continue their investigations and to ensure that the perpetrators, regardless of their nationality or status, are effectively brought to justice.

"Meanwhile we hope that this may also help to counter the anti-refugee agenda some groups have been pushing since Cologne and that has too often clouded the political debate in Europe on refugee protection."

Pundit James O'Brien also piled in to ponder what the British media would do with new information that contradicted previous reports.

Bremer later hit out at how his own remarks had been reported, insisting most of the suspects identified in connection were refugees. 

He claimed to AP: "They have various legal statuses, including illegal entry, asylum-seekers and asylum applicants."

"That covers the overwhelming majority of suspects."

A refugee is commonly defined as someone who has been granted asylum status or fled a conflict zone. 

Allegations that those recently fleeing persecution in their own countries, the lion share of which are Syrian, were behind sex attacks on women in Germany have fuelled a significant hardening of attitudes to immigration.

Hundreds turned out to protest Angela Merkel'sopen door policy for asylum seekers in the aftermath of January's atrocity. Some carried banners reading "Rape refugees not welcome"; others held signs depicting a crossed out mosque.

READ MORE:

 

 

Germany has also seen a spike in racially motivated arson attacks on refugees' homes and shelters since the incident, with vigilante gangs vowing to 'clean up Cologne' in a mass "manhunt". 

In Leipzig, 250 members of local anti-migrant group Pegida attacked doner kebab fast food stalls, set cars ablaze and smashed windows. 

Cologne Sex Attacks: Only Three Out Of 58 Men Arrested Are Refugees, Prosecutor

A policeman next to burning bins during the demonstration

Demonstrators threw fireworks at police, and attempted to build a barricade with signs and torn up paving stones. A bus carrying leftist demonstrators was also attacked. 

German women responded to the action by handing out flowers to refugees in a bid to protest against violence unfairly levelled against them. 

In turn, refugees handed out flowers to women in German cities to show their respect.

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