Cologne police and politicians could face charges over NYE migrant sex attacks
GERMAN prosecutors are considering bringing charges against 51 people including police officers and politicians over the failure to protect Cologne victims from New Year’s Eve sex mobs.
Those facing legal action include former Cologne police chief Wolfgang Albers, 60, and North Rhine-Westphalia Interior Minister Ralf Jaeger, 54.
The claims were made as part of the ongoing local parliamentary investigation into the attacks in which over 1,000 people reported being the victims of crime.
Prosecutor Jost Schuetzenberg said police officers were also included in the charges.
Belgian reporter Esmeralda Labye is sexually assaulted by a man at Cologne carnival
Albers left his role following criticism over his handling of the crisis.
He was informed by the state minister he would be taking early retirement and the 60-year-old was removed from his position.
His replacement Jurgen Mathies said CCTV footage was not good enough to identify most of the sex attackers.
Last month it was revealed 75 suspects, mostly from North Africa, had been identified.
It follows on from the admission yesterday police had not even had 140 officers on duty as they had earlier claimed, and in fact there were only 80 working when the city descended into chaos.
FDP (Free Democratic Party) party leader Marc Luerbke said he was stunned by the revelation, saying: "The fact that this was not publicly admitted earlier implies something else behind it.
"But there is no eraser to simply remove some things."
He added that the interior minister needed to appear before the commission to make a statement and answer questions immediately.
Christian Democratic Union politician Ina Scharrenbach said: "Now we realise the level of the fatally flawed decisions about policing matters that lay directly at the door of the interior minister."
The fact that this was not publicly admitted earlier implies something else behind it
In the immediate aftermath of the NYE attacks, police played down the extent of the abuse.
However, in the following days horrific details emerged.
They showed a staggering 821 complaints including sex assault and gang rape.
Claims of a mass cover up by police and politicians were then made regarding the attacks.
Similar shocking incidents occured in cities such as Dusseldorf and Hamburg.