SPD politician loses against brothel operators in court

Former SPD state chief Leni Breymaier lost in court against a Stuttgart brothel operator. He had sued Breymaier because the politician had said on a television show that women in brothels did not work voluntarily, but were brought to the companies of human dealers and rocker gangs. This also applies to the house of the Stuttgart brothel operator, Breymaier said on the show.

The politician can no longer repeat this statement, a civil chamber of the Stuttgart Regional Court decided. The statement was an untrue factual claim, a court spokeswoman said. If the politician repeated her statement again, she threatened her.

Court: Politician did not provide any specific evidence

Breymaier bears the burden of proof for the claim, but was unable to provide this evidence, the court said. Instead, she was based on general statements about crime phenomena in the red light milieu. « However, the defendant could not give a concrete and objectively verifiable findings on the plaintiff’s brothel operation, » said the court spokeswoman.

The former SPD head of the SPD, who was also a member of the Bundestag, must now pay for the court costs and the plaintiff’s legal costs. In addition, the court also granted the Stuttgart brothel operator entitled to compensation.

The judgment is not yet final. She would wait for the written reasoning and then decide with her lawyer whether she would go to the next instance, said Breymaier of the German Press Agency. Then the Higher Regional Court would have to deal with the case.