Emmanuel Thomas, DPA, Wednesday, June 28, 2023
COLOGNE – An attorney for German Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki, the archbishop of Cologne, accused police of tipping off journalists about planned criminal searches as part of a perjury investigation into the cardinal.
Police searched Woelki’s home as well as buildings belonging to the archdiocese on Tuesday looking for documents related to allegations that the cardinal lied about when he became aware of abuse complaints in the archdiocese. Woelki has denied the accusations.
“What bothers us is not the searches but that details and the timing were apparently leaked to the media,” Woelki’s lawyer, Björn Gercke, told the Die Zeit newspaper.
Gercke said he plans to file a criminal complaint on behalf of the cardinal for breach of official secrecy. Gercke told dpa that he does not suspect prosecutors of being behind the alleged leak.
Around 30 police officers and four public prosecutors were involved in the searches, which included the ecclesiastical court and the archbishop’s house as well as the offices of the IT service provider which manages the archdiocese’s email.
The chief public prosecutor in Cologne, Ulf Willuhn, said he would look into the claim. He said that members of the press were already outside the buildings with cameras before searches began on Tuesday.
He said he understands the cardinal’s anger and called the presence of the press an annoyance for his office as well.
Gercke called the police searches unnecessary and said the public spectacle served to prejudice the public against his client. He also expressed confidence that prosecutors would eventually drop the case.
“For our sake, the search would not have had to be carried out, because we would have voluntarily given up everything that the public prosecutor’s office needs,” he told the Die Zeit newspaper.
Willuhn on Tuesday defended the searches as necessary for the investigation and said authorities also had to consider the heightened public importance of the case.
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