Roland Schlosser

Roland Karl Emil Schlosser (born June 9, 1948 ) is a German police officer . Schlosser became known through his unauthorized release of a prisoner from custody on the grounds that the detention conditions were not humane, as well as the subsequent conviction for freeing prisoners .

Crime

On the evening of June 7, 1993, Schlosser, who was then the first police superintendent and head of the Landau police station in the Palatinate, released a male Angolan citizen C. who was being held in a custody cell of the police station and placed him in the care of a high school teacher friend. The latter should ensure that C. could still be reached by the authorities.

At that time there was a lawful deportation detention order against C. Since June 4, 1993, he has been in the holding cell, which is usually not designed for long-term detention. It was originally planned that he would only spend one night there and then be transferred to a correctional facility in Rhineland-Palatinate . However, this did not happen due to a lack of accommodation.

The reason for the dismissal of Schlosser was the inhumane accommodation in the custody cell.

Legal processing

In the first instance, Schlosser was sentenced by the Landau District Court to a fine of 20 daily rates of 100 DM each for freeing prisoners  . Schlosser appealed, but the first instance judgment was confirmed in the second instance by the Landau district court.

In court, Schlosser justified his actions by stating that he “did not want to 'free' C., but merely put him in 'relaxed custody'. His actions were justified because the detainee's placement was 'inhumane'. "However, the court saw it differently:" There was no justifying emergency. There was certainly no violation of the human dignity of C. in such a way that the general public's interest in a procedure that complies with the statutory provisions would have to subordinate the interest in the prisoner's personal well-being. The police custody cells are probably not suitable for long-term execution. The several days of restriction in communication and the inmates' freedom of movement had to be accepted under the given circumstances. "

Disciplinary consequences

As a consequence of his actions, Schlosser was downgraded by one rank and received a reprimand which included the following sentence: "The functionality of the state would be seriously threatened if an official, simply relying on his conscience, did not have to follow an official instruction."

Honor

For his actions, Schlosser was awarded the Clara Immerwahr Prize of the German section of the organization International Doctors for the Prevention of Nuclear War, Doctors in Social Responsibility in 1994 . V. honored for his moral courage .

Schlosser's trade sparked a public discussion on the subject of human dignity and moral courage.

literature

• Core of freedom . In: Der Spiegel . No. 28 , 1994 ( online ).
• Attached to conscience . In: Berliner Zeitung , February 1, 2000

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Judgment text on gewissensfreiheit.de, accessed on December 28, 2011
2. ↑ Judgment text on gewissensfreiheit.de, accessed on December 28, 2011
3. ↑ ippnw.de accessed December 28, 2011.