On July 22 a young man named Ali David Sonboly went on a shooting rampage in Munich, murdering eight people before committing suicide. During his peripatetic massacre he was briefly on the roof of a parking garage. While he was there, he was hectored from the balcony of a nearby apartment building by a local Bavarian man. A video of the exchange later went viral. The “balcony man”’s new-found notoriety drew the attention of the authorities, who are now considering prosecuting him for his insults against the culture-enriching shooter, presumably under the law against Volksverhetzung.
Below is a video made by the woman who brought the complaint against the balcony man, explaining and justifying her actions. I’ll let her high-minded rectitude speak for itself, without further commentary.
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=a94_1470786200
Transcript:
0:00 Last night I found out that that the media were reporting
0:03 that charges were filed against the man who insulted the shooter from Munich.
0:08 You all know the incident, because it wasn’t long ago.
0:16 First I would like to say that nothing justifies what the shooter did,
0:22 nothing justifies the killing and harming of the victims.
0:28 I am as shocked as you were with this act, but I have to say
0:35 that there was also anger that grew out of my sadness concerning this incident.
0:40 On July 23 I filed charges against “unknown”,
0:47 because I didn’t know the name of the man yet.
0:52 I only saw the video where we could hear clearly
0:57 that he insulted the shooter countless times.
1:03 It just wouldn’t stop. The prosecutor knows my name,
1:09 so it wasn’t anonymous; I filed charges, and I stand by them.
1:15 And this is why I gave my full name to the prosecutor.
1:22 I have prepared a statement in order to explain to you
1:26 what exactly is going on, because there is some false information out there.
1:31 And I also wanted to share with you what I think about it,
1:36 and why I decided to file the charges, what were my motivations.
1:41 My motivation is far-reaching, concerning the subject of bullying,
1:47 and I’m going to explain it in detail . From my point of view, throwing
1:54 insults at the gunman was not a heroic deed.
1:58 The offender [the cursing man] knew well, and it can be proven,
2:02 that the shooter on the parking roof had a loaded gun,
2:07 still he kept hurling insults at the shooter.
2:11 I know no smart psychologist who in such situation,
2:16 where a person with a loaded gun is ready to use it,
2:23 and so no psychologist would advise to heavily insult and provoke that armed person.
2:29 I think also that there’s no smart psychologist who would advise,
2:35 in such a situation, to carry on insulting and swearing.
2:41 The advice would be, usually, to run away
2:45 and if that wasn’t possible, to keep calm,
2:49 and obviously NOT provoke the gunman.
2:53 The available videos are the proof that
2:57 the shooter was further provoked to use his weapon
3:00 by the insults that were hurled at him.
3:03 There was also a neighbor, who was shot at
3:08 and he gave a statement about it in an interview.
3:12 So at least one person was hurt, shot,
3:17 because of the insults, AFTER the insults from the roof of the parking garage.
3:23 The offender — from what we found out —
3:27 wasn’t trying to distract the attacker,
3:30 but admitted in the interview not knowing at first
3:33 that the man on the roof was the shooter.
3:39 By the way, I didn’t file charges because of the disparagement of a corpse.
3:44 That would be a legal nonsense.
3:48 I filed charges simply for insults,
3:53 and I justified it
3:57 by the public interest/ benefit in the prosecution.
4:02 The charges concerning slander/libel are in the public interest.
4:08 A normal citizen doesn’t benefit from it, but
4:12 if for example a public servant is insulted, the notion
4:17 Of public interest might be approved and applied,
4:20 because we don’t want our public servants to be insulted.
4:25 I see by the way a down side for “normal citizens”
4:33 when compared with public servants. I believe
4:37 the charges should be treated in the same way
4:40 and the notion of public interest should apply in both cases.
4:44 I see public interest, because the insults
4:49 against the gunman put more people in danger of death or injury,
4:55 in a situation that was already more than difficult.
5:00 According to a neighbor, who was injured in the shooting,
5:05 this danger became reality, because he was shot
5:09 as a result of the heavy insults hurled at the gunman.
5:15 I filed charges concerning suspicion of reckless endangerment.
5:24 It is my life experience that a person with a loaded gun
5:31 will definitely shoot if provoked.
5:36 Anyway, it’s not true that the offender distracted the shooter
5:43 and prevented him from firing more shots,
5:46 and it’s also not true that the attacker stopped shooting after that.
5:52 Furthermore, should I find out who was bullying the gunman, before this incident,
5:58 and should I find out that during the bullying crimes were committed,
6:04 I will file charges against that person as well;
6:07 because, in my opinion, whoever was bullying that young man
6:11 is co-responsible for the death and injuries of the victims of the gunman.
6:17 Bullying is no trivial offense; bullying can kill.
6:23 In general bullying victims will turn violence against themselves,
6:29 if they become violent, and it can result in a suicide.
6:35 In the case of Munich, both happened:
6:39 the gunman himself and other people fell victims to violence.
6:46 I know from my own experience what bullying does to its victims
6:51 and I don’t want to treat bullying as trivial offense any longer,
6:56 if it might even result in death through a gunman.
7:02 This is why I am asking to look into bullying in this case.
7:10 and prosecute any possible crimes related to that bullying.
7:16 Only in that way can bullying be used to help other victims,
7:21 and maybe it can be brought to people’s attention and conscience
7:26 that bullying is neither fun nor a trivial offense.
7:31 In relation to this subject I would like to ask you
7:37 not to harass the parents of the shooter;
7:45 because that would also be bullying.
7:48 Those are parents who just lost their son,
7:53 and, as far as I know, they’ve also tried, because of the bullying,
7:58 to find help; however, they were obviously not taken seriously,
8:03 and every procedure they started was interrupted.
8:07 I think it’s not all right to attack those parents
8:10 and I’m asking you to refrain from it.
http://gatesofvienna.net/2016/08/the-woman-who-brought-a-legal-complaint-against-the-balcony-man-for-insulting-the-munich-shooter/
Marriage is the process of finding out what kind of man your wife would have preferred.
foghornleghorn 3 years, 6 months ago.
