Jens bag

Jens Bags (2007)

Jens Beutel (born July 12, 1946 in Lünen ; † May 8, 2019 ) was a German lawyer and politician of the SPD . From 1997 to 2011 he was Lord Mayor of the Rhineland-Palatinate state capital Mainz .

Life

From 1953 Jens Beutel attended elementary school in Haan and in 1957 switched to high school in Fritzlar . After graduating from high school in 1966, he voluntarily completed military service that was extended to two years . In 1968 he began studying law in Mainz and joined the SPD. From 1974 to 1989 he was a member of the local advisory council for the Mainz-Mombach district .

Beutel died on May 8, 2019 at the age of 72.

Judge

In 1976, Beutel completed his law studies and passed the second state examination . He became a judge at the Frankenthal Regional Court , then in Koblenz and Mainz . The focus was on civil law , commercial law and criminal law . He later became the presiding judge at the Mainz Regional Court (youth and youth protection chamber ). In this capacity he was also the presiding judge in the first of the so-called Worms trials (1993–1996), which concerned the alleged mass sexual abuse of children in the city of Worms . His verbal grounds for the verdict in this first trial contradicts the written grounds for the verdict and the acquittals in all three trials, and was therefore criticized. In the oral justification of the judgment, Beutel claimed that the children needed protection from their parents, while the written judgment found no abuse, as the chain of evidence was insufficient.

Lord Mayor of Mainz

In 1989, Beutel was elected to the Mainz city council, in which he became chairman of the SPD parliamentary group in 1995 . In 1996 he ran for the office of Lord Mayor for the first time and won the runoff against the CDU candidate Norbert Schüler . In 1997 he took up his post. In 2004 he was elected in the first ballot for a further eight years; his second term began in 2005. On January 1, 2012, he retired. As Lord Mayor, Beutel was ex officio Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Stadtwerke Mainz AG and, from 2009, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Kraftwerke Mainz-Wiesbaden and President of the International Gutenberg Society .

One of the main focuses of urban development during his tenure was the redesign of the banks of the Rhine from the new container port to the art gallery as part of the new use of the former customs port and the underground car park and the associated redesign of the green space at the electoral palace , the expansion of the Rheingoldhalle and the winter harbor development. Also to be mentioned are the renovation of the Great House of the State Theater , the renovation of the southern old town , the new construction of the new Mainz synagogue , the construction of the Opel Arena and the Hechtsheim exhibition grounds, the renovation of the Mainz main train station and the Roman theater station as well as the Implementation of the city mile. Other highlights of the term of office were the Gutenberg year 2000, the award of the City of Mainz as City of Science in 2011, the fight that began in 2001 in the Rhein-Main Future Initiative (ZRM), which he co-founded, against the expansion of Frankfurt Airport and the associated increase in the Aircraft noise , the founding of the central holding company of the city of Mainz (ZBM) or the inclusion of the wine city Mainz in the network of Great Wine Capitals.

Towards the end of Beutel's tenure, the planning of a tram route to the Mainz Lerchenberg began , which Beutel himself endorsed. The route was only completed under the name “Mainzelbahn” in 2016 after Bagel's tenure.

Private interests

Jens Beutel, Chess Classic Mainz 2002

Chess was one of his hobbies . He played in the major league, was twice Rheinhessen champion and several times city champion of Mainz. From 2001 he was the patron of the Chess Classic tournaments , which were held from 2001 to 2010 in the Rheingoldhalle in Mainz.

Preliminary investigation

Jens Beutel and the Rhine-Hessian wine princess Judit Zehe, 2009

On June 16, 2009 it became known that a preliminary investigation had been initiated against Beutel for breach of trust and taking advantage in connection with the precarious financial situation of Wohnbau Mainz GmbH , whereupon Beutel resigned from his position on the Supervisory Board. From November 2009 the public prosecutor's office was also investigating other cases of infidelity in other companies close to the city. In October 2010 a penalty order imposed a fine of 80 daily rates for breach of trust due to a trip without an official reason, but all further investigations against Beutel in connection with the housing affair were discontinued.

In October 2011, allegations were made about incidents during a business trip to Rwanda .

On January 1, 2012, he retired before the end of his second term.

Honors

• On October 8, 2005 he received the Medal of Honor of the Mainz twin city Dijon from the hand of its mayor François Rebsamen .
• On December 15, 2011 he received the ring of honor of the city of Mainz for nearly four decades of local political activity in the state capital from the hand of Mayor Günter Beck .

Web links

Commons : Jens Beutel  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Jens Beutel in the catalog of the German National Library
• Jens Beutel on the website of the Rhineland-Palatinate state capital Mainz ( Memento from November 2, 2011 in the Internet Archive )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ "Always a man of balance": Mainz mourns Jens Beutel , Allgemeine Zeitung Mainz , May 9, 2019
2. ↑ Gisela Friedrichsen: The matter is not over . In: Der Spiegel . No. 9 , 2005, p. 50-56 ( Online - Feb. 28, 2005 ).
3. ↑ ^{a b} Monika Nellessen: Mainzer OB Beutel will be retiring in 2012 - new elections will probably take place in March. ( Memento from November 2, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) in Rhein Main Presse, as of November 1, 2011.
4. ^ ^{A b Declaration of} resignation from Mayor Jens Beutel in full ( memento from November 2, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) in Rhein Main Presse, as of October 31, 2011.
5. ↑ Beutel supports Mainzelbahn , article in the Rhein-Zeitung from April 14, 2010.
6. ↑ Hartmut Metz: Jens Beutel steeled the opponents for second place ( Memento of the original from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The  archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Interview), Chess Tigers Schach-Förderverein 1999 e. V., July 11, 2006.
7. ^ House search at OB Beutel due to housing scandal , Focus Online, June 16, 2009.
8. ↑ Pouch has to pay a fine of 9,600 euros for a trip to Capri - other procedures discontinued ( memento of October 24, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) , wiesbadener-tagblatt.de, October 21, 2010.
9. ↑ Markus Schug: City Hall chief bag remains only the departure. Report on faz.net from October 30, 2011.
10. ↑ Lord Mayor Jens Beutel receives ring of honor ( Memento from January 29, 2016 in the Internet Archive )