In the end she had to give in!
Contrary to her previous statements, Federal Justice Minister Christine Lambrecht (54, SPD) is now campaigning for tougher punishments for child abuse and child pornography.
► “Actions like the terrible case in Münster are serious crimes. The highest penalties known to German law apply here, ”Lambrecht told the editorial network Germany.
► Lambrecht’s U-turn: She now wants “tougher punishments” for cases of sexual abuse that are not associated with physical violence and abuse. “These are, for example, touching children in a sexual way. The law must clearly state that these are crimes without ifs and buts, ”said Lambrecht.
In the ZDF “Today Journal” she added: “I have instructed my house to submit a corresponding regulation as soon as possible. That can and will happen quickly. “
A clear change of heart! So far, Lambrecht had vehemently contradicted the demands from the Union (BILD reported) that child abuse should no longer be classified as an “offense” but as a “crime” (minimum sentence of one year imprisonment).
The minister had only wanted to set up a “Child Abuse Task Force” – another word for a round table.
Relief about the change of course in the SPD: “I welcome the decision of the minister,” Doris Schröder-Köpf (56, SPD), member of the Lower Saxony state parliament, told BILD. “I am absolutely for harsher punishments. I hope for more prison sentences and fewer sentences for perpetrators! For me, child pornography consumers are accomplices who should be punished just as severely. ”
According to BILD information, Lambrecht had been facing a closed front of SPD domestic and legal politicians in the past few days, who were pushing to give up the blockade. Motto: child protection instead of perpetrator protection.
North Rhine-Westphalia’s Interior Minister Herbert Reul (67, CDU) said BILD: “I am pleased that the Minister of Justice is swiveling in, but we must now carefully monitor how the urgently needed change in the law can be implemented promptly.” Reul continued: “Child abuse cannot be punished like shoplifting, it’s murder. Not physically, but mentally. Anyone who abuses children is punished as a criminal, period! ”
CDU legal expert Patrick Sensburg (48) also puts pressure: “Late insight is better than none,” he told BILD. “We should get the punishment on the way now and decide before the summer break.”
SPD leader Saskia Esken (58) braked on Thursday. When asked if this was going to happen before the summer break, she said to BILD: “I can’t imagine that.” But it was not impossible. “We have seen how quickly politics can go.”
(dp / fsch / harb / pet / pvs / rs.)
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