Latzel lawsuit is terminated after pastor pays 5,000 euros

The pastor of St Martini Church in Bremen, Germany, who was accused of inciting people because of statements he made in 2019 about homosexuality, among other things, read out a statement at the beginning of the court hearing in Bremen. In it, he apologised again, most emphatically, for wording he used to hurt people from the LGBT community.

Thereupon, the judge adjourned the hearing to see whether a settlement between the parties was possible.

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Indeed, that solution proved to be possible. Pastor Latzel pays 5,000 euros to an LGBT advocacy organisation. The German prosecutor's office agreed.

This brings the court case to a final conclusion. There are now no further appeals.

Criminals

When asked, Rev Latzel said he was 'grateful' for the outcome. He did not wish to comment further on Wednesday morning.

The issue revolved around statements Pastor Latzel made in a marriage seminar for his own congregation in October 2019. In it, he made remarks about homosexuality and gay activists, whom he referred to as 'these criminals from Christopher Street Day'.

For this, the Ambtgericht Bremen sentenced him to a fine of over 8,000 euros in late 2020. The Landgericht acquitted him in 2022. The Oberlandesgericht overturned that acquittal in 2023.

Free man

After the court hearing, Dr Sacha Böttner, Latzel's lawyer, stressed that ending the court case through a settlement and the payment of a sum of money certainly did not mean that the pastor would now, left or right, have been declared guilty anyway. "Rev Latzel has said from the beginning in the matter of the marriage seminar that things did not go optimally. That what he said then was not meant that way by him."

A settlement based on Article 153a in criminal procedure law "is based on the presumption of innocence (a basic rule in criminal law, AdJ)," Böttner said. "That means that Rev Latzel is innocent, that he can now proceed as a free man. There has been, after the acquittal by the Landgericht Bremen in 2022, no finding of guilt. For us, this fact was very important in order to be able to agree to the settlement: Rev. Latzel has not been found guilty of the offence of sedition."

Mistakes

Before the case was dismissed by the Landgericht on Monday morning, Rev Latzel made a statement. He said he was very sorry for hurting people at a marriage seminar in his congregation in 2019, the audio recording of which was later posted on the internet. As he had done before, the pastor again distanced himself from the words he used in 2019 and apologised. "These mistakes should not have happened to me," he said. As a Christian and a pastor, he respects gay people as he respects all other people, Rev Latzel said.

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In the disputed marriage seminar, he described homosexuality as a "form of degeneration in society". He also said, "This homosexual lobby, this diabolical thing is getting stronger and stronger, more and more massive, forcing its way in." And also: "These criminals of Christopher Street Day are walking around everywhere."

Judge Frauke Wesemüller said on Monday that Latzel's statements were "not good". Whether they were criminal is, she said, "controversial among jurists". It is perfectly permissible to declare publicly, citing the Bible, that you consider homosexuality a sin. "But of course you are not allowed to insult other people's dignity with your words," she said.

Because of the criminal case, the past few years have "certainly not been easy" for pastor Latzel, Wesemüller said. She called the preacher's apologies to the people he had hurt "sincere".

By the way, the lawsuit will only really be concluded when pastor Latzel has actually transferred the 5,000 euros to the Bremen-based ‘Rat&Tat-Zentrum für queeres Leben’ within six months.

This article was translated by CNE.news and published by the Dutch daily Reformatorisch Dagblad on August 28, 2024