Two more members of the Last Generation have been indicted by the Munich Public Prosecutor’s Office for having formed a criminal organization. The Public Prosecutor’s Office confirmed this to .
The trained IT project manager Melanie Guttmann and the protest researcher Lea Bonasera are indicted under Section 129 of the Penal Code. The formation of a criminal organization can be punished with a fine or up to five years in prison.
“We protested peacefully for climate protection,” Bonasera tells . “That should not be criminalized.” Bonasera had, among other things, glued herself to streets in Munich with other activists of the Last Generation to urge the government to take stronger climate action. According to her own statements, she has already been convicted of coercion and fined. “I view the indictment under Section 129 as a political proceeding,” she says.
The indictment against Bonasera and Guttmann is the fourth against members of the Last Generation, which is now known as the New Generation. There is also another case in Munich, one in Flensburg, and one in Potsdam. In Potsdam, the district court recently accepted the indictment by the Neuruppin Public Prosecutor’s Office and opened the proceedings. In the other cases, the courts have not commented yet.
Section 129 is meant to combat organized crime
“The legislative aim of Section 129 is to combat organized crime,” says Joschka Selinger to . He is a lawyer with the Society for Civil Liberties, which advocates for civil rights in court. He is not involved in the proceedings against the activists.
“Section 129 is meant to enable investigations into organizations that build structures that must be fought early,” he says. The offense reaches far ahead of criminal actions, for example at the stage of donations. The public prosecutor would obtain extensive investigative powers, including the ability to search residences or to monitor telecommunications.
“The application may be appropriate when dealing with organized crime, but not with political protest,” says Selinger. Protests are protected by fundamental rights such as freedom of assembly, freedom of opinion, and freedom of the press, which ought to be limited by the constitution to a more narrow scope. “The prosecutors do not sufficiently acknowledge this,” the lawyer criticizes.
The Society for Civil Liberties has filed a constitutional complaint with the Federal Constitutional Court together with Reporters Without Borders and the Bavarian Journalists’ Association because, on the basis of Section 129, the Last Generation’s press hotline and thus many journalists were tapped.
Lawyer: “The fundamental rights damages are gigantic”
Bonasera fears that the indictment will intimidate people and deter them from taking part in protests. “This is an attack on democracy,” she said.
Selinger also regards the broad interpretation of Section 129 as worrying. “The fundamental rights damages for the defendants are gigantic: both the investigations through eavesdropping on telephone calls, the searches of homes, and the seizure of the Last Generation’s website, as well as the trial itself, which could last for years,” he says.
Selinger furthermore doubts that the prerequisites for criminal liability under Section 129 are met. These include, among other things, that the organization poses a significant danger to public safety. “What danger has actually occurred due to the Last Generation’s actions?” he asks. “They deliberately break the law, but they acknowledge the institutions of the rule of law.”
The Munich Public Prosecutor’s Office did not wish to comment on the allegations in response to a request by , citing the ongoing proceedings.
