Munich molester makes a mockery of German law
mainThe well-connected pianist Siegfried Mauser, sentenced to jail three years ago for sexual assaults on colleagues at the Munich Academy for Music and Theatre, has yet to spend one night behind bars.
Using an Austrian passport as well as a German one, he has played both legal systems virtuosically to avoid punishment for what the court heard were a series of horrendous asaults on women who were under his authority as rector of the Academy.
Mauser, 66, is a disgrace to music whose continued liberty is thought to have been been assisted by influential musician friends. He may yet get away with it.
The phrase “horrendous assaults” is accurate. The actual events were established by the courts. In one case, Mauser began molesting a woman applying for a job, then spun her around and against her will forced his penis into her anus causing cries of pain. See:
https://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/sex-skandal-an-der-musikhochschule-muenchen-a-1207253.html
Under German law at the time of his crime, he was convicted of three counts of sexual coercion (sexuelle Nötigung) involving two women and sentenced to two years and nine months in prison.
Not long after his indictment, the German laws were changed. The new laws would have defined his actions not only as sexual coercion, but as rape. He is fortunate that he could only be tried under the law at the time of his crime.
This article describes the various means Mauser has used so far to avoid serving his prison sentence:
https://www.abendzeitung-muenchen.de/kultur/musik/freiheitsstrafe-fuer-siegfried-mauser-kein-finale-fuer-eine-unendliche-geschichte-art-700983
Bizarrely, as discussed in another SD entry today, these sexual assaults took place in the Führerbau, a neo-classical office building built for Hitler in 1937 and now used for Munich’s University of Music. And more precisely, in what was Hitler’s office.
After the war, the building was used to store art looted by the Nazis before it became the Musikhochschule (later named The University of Music.) The building is now badly in need of renovation which is unusual for public buildings in Germany. It leaves me wondering if there might be a possible long-term plan to demolish and replace it.
I think it is also important to consider the larger values of a cultural community that would prepare a Festschrift for someone such as Mauser whose behavior was not unknown. Why would they appoint him the President of Munich’s University of Music? Why would members of this community presumably use their influence to keep him from serving his sentence? From a cultural perspective, is Mauser just the tip of the iceberg, or is he just an anomaly?
Why didn’t they just put him in prison once he was sentenced?
It seems to me that a lot of people think he never should have been convicted and the charges were a form of revenge that succeeded in the ” poisonous and hysterical climate that prevails today.”
https://www.sueddeutsche.de/muenchen/nach-dem-urteil-gegen-ex-rektor-der-musikhochschule-muenchens-kulturwelt-ist-entsetzt-1.3009189
Jian Ghomeshi had similar charges against him and was acquitted. Bill Cosby just had his unjust conviction overturned. A man accused of rape and sexual harassment was just elected President of the US. Face it – the metoo hysteria is waning.
A man accused of rape and sexual harassment? You mean grab ‘em by the pussy guy? Pay off the porn star guy? When you’re a star they let you do it guy?
Speaking of stars, Cosby’s conviction was overturned because of an earlier plea deal. It’s quite telling that Karl thinks he should be able to give quaaludes to people with whom he wants to have sex. (Cosby admitted to doing exactly that, while still maintaining his innocence.)
Here, Karl, this oughta do it:
From now on, all men are allowed to do whatever they want with impunity. Karl was once falsely accused, so it follows that all women are liars and all men accused of crimes are hapless victims (except Biden). Did I get that right?
Wrong. Biden is just as guilty as all other men. Four out the past five US Presidents have been accused of rape. Think about that.
I’m thinking… that you are an idiot!
You better check the facts by yourself before you call other people idiots….
He was partially acquitted (Jian). And his acquittal was partly down to very poor preparation by the police and the prosecutors. I have been around the CBC since I was a student, and have worked for them in both radio and television. I know far too many women with bruises to doubt the truth of the accusations for a moment. He had a very good lawyer, she did her job brilliantly, and he was lucky.
People who had known Jian Ghomeshi as long as since he was a teen dropped him from their visiting list. You don’t do that to a friend if you consider him innocent.
Metoo “hysteria” has waned? More that celebrity culture has triumphed, and people like you, who think every accusation against a man was trumped up, as if no man ever caused a woman grief, whether physical or emotional, are back in the business of denying everything about people you favour. Which seems to start with men.
I never said every accusation against a man is trumped up, only about 50% of them. Sociologist Eugene J. Kanin has conducted studies that verify that number. A big problem is that there is usually no legal consequence for false accusers. There was a recent case of false accusations in my state against a politician. One charge was dropped after the accuser committed perjury. That’s a felony, but she wasn’t charged or even identified. The politician was found not guilty of another charge, but the vindictive prosecutor found lesser charges to file. The politician was finally found not guilty of those. He had to spend over $100,000 on lawyers.
The judge in the Ghomeshi case the judge said there was “outright deception” by the accusers.