Note of forward by Fredric Rice:
Afterwards, cult ringleader Rinder apparently met with NBC and quite
accidentally informed them that, contrary to what cultist
Helnwein had been demanding for the past six years, he was in fact a
follower of the Scientology cult. Woops! Since the basis of Helnwein's
legal activities in Germany over the past six years were due to having
been identified publically as a Scientologist, two days after cult
ringleader Rinder let the cat out of the bag, Helnwein dropped his legal
cases in Germany. What a coincidence, huh? I doubt it.
Date: Fri, 4 Feb 2000 21:44:07 -0500
Bonn, Germany
The Legal Proceedings - The Capitulation
The Frankfurt Superior State Court had set the date at February 17, 2000.
An SWR team investigated on February 1, 2000 in Clearwater, USA.
In front of Helnwein's house, the camera man was attacked with a hammer.
On the next day SWR obtained a capitulation statement.
The following press release was sent on February 2, 2000 from attorney Dr.
Karsten Rock from the Office of Gram and Weber in Bielefeld to SWR
(Southwest Broadcasting).
Press release.
Since 1994, Gottfried Helnwein has pursued legal proceedings to enforce a
cease-and-desist order against the "Verein fuer die Interessen
tyrannisierter Mitmenschen, e.V." and the "Verein fuer Friedenserziehung
im Saarland e.V." for alleged false statements of fact. Mr. Helnwein
triumphed in the first round before the Frankfurt State Court, by judgment
of the 3rd civil chamber on 24 May 1995.
On appeal by the accused, the judgment of the first specification was
confirmed by Frankfurt Superior State Court, but the other three
specifications were overturned and withdrawn. To Mr. Helnwein's
Constitutional grievance which he filed against this de cision, the first
Senate of the Federal Constitutional Court, with a decision on 10 Nov
1998, case number: 1 8 VR 1531/98, overturned the decision of the
Frankfurt Superior State Court based on transgression of basic rights and
referred it back for a new hearing.
Since Mr. Helnwein has not lived in Germany since the end of 1997 and
lives with his family and works alternately between Ireland, New York and
Italy, the nearly 6 year old proceeding has since lost meaning and purpose
for him. He is now dedicating himself exclusively to his artistic work
and is preparing several international museum exhibits which require his
entire concentration and work ability.
He has not publicly taken a position on the theme since 1998 and since he
no longer lives in Germany, he has not been involved with the topic of the
proceedings anymore, either. Further discussion about the case material
in the proceedings before the Frankfurt Superior Court is no longer
possible for him. He is lacking the time as well as the motivation to
continue the dispute.
Mr. Helnwein has repeatedly sought an out of court settlement. Because
the opponents in the proceedings have not responded to an offer for out of
court settlement, Mr. Helnwein has instructed his representative in the
matter to now end the case. Mr. Helnwein's trial representative will now
accordingly withdraw his accusations. By withdrawing the accusations,
however, it is not conceded that the assertions of fact by the opposing
sides are true. The withdrawal of the accusations is serving exclusively
to end proceedings for the complainant in which he has lost any legal
interest.
---------------------------------------------------
Return to The Skeptic Tank's main Index page.
After Scientologist Richard Bernard assaulted XenuTV with a hammer,
cult ringleader Mike Rinder went to Gottfried Helnwein's house, with, I
believe, the intention of instructing the cult follower what to say
about the attack or, which seems more likely to me, to order him to
say nothing to the press about the attack which took place outside of
his residence.
German_Scn_News
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February 4, 2000
Ingo Heinemann's web page
German Scientology News
Unofficial translations from German-speaking countries
Index/link to over 800 articles - http://cisar.org/trnmenu.htm
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