Overview
- The Landgericht Osnabrück found the 44-year-old twice tried to kiss a colleague against her will, once pushing her against a door, constituting sexual harassment.
- Judges imposed a €7,000 fine and cleared him of sexual coercion, unlawful image sharing, and stalking that prosecutors argued warranted a 16-month sentence.
- The court said he leveraged his role to pursue sexual contacts with at least five colleagues but concluded much testimony fell short of the criminal standard of proof.
- In a two-hour final statement, the defendant maintained the encounters were consensual and accused witnesses and the prosecution of bias.
- He remains provisionally suspended from duty and can file for a revision of the verdict within one week.