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Report / Interview Radio Bavaria 1 "Afternoon in Main-Franconia Region” – Dec. 7, 2006 (Excerpt)
Administrative Court Würzburg early this morning – unusual crowd. Many television cameras and microphones. The program interested animal protectors and even hunters far beyond Lower Franconia. Farmers with considerable acreage and their own hunting grounds in the districts of Würzburg and Main-Spessart have filed an application with their district administrative office to suspend hunting on their property for 10 years. They are close to or part of the community of faith Universelles Leben and consider animals as their brothers and sisters.
Considering the juristic questions, it could have been a very exciting case. The plaintiffs pled Article 4 of the German Constitution, for instance. Attorney Dr. Christian Sailer: “We all know that a person can refuse military service for reasons of conscience. So, it has to be possible to refuse military service against the animals in fields and woods. This is what we want to debate today.” But it never got that far. Before getting down to business, attorney Dr. Sailer asked whether one of the judges is a hunter. The question was not answered; an application on grounds of bias was rejected. The attorney then stated that he knew beyond doubt that the presiding judge goes hunting. For this reason, he challenged him on grounds of bias. This application was also dismissed as legally abusive. Following this, Dr. Sailer packed up his documents, because to him it no longer was a serious proceeding and the outcome had apparently already been determined. The plaintiffs left with him and circa 100 sympathizers.
Outside before the door a dead wild pig lay on a wheelbarrow. Murdered, said the animal protectors, on the hunting grounds of the head official of the hunting authority in the Würzburg District Administrative Office. The boar is said to have been severely wounded by a shot in the gut and spent about 12 hours dragging itself onto the hunting ground of Gut Greußenheim, where shooting has not taken place for some years. This is what hunting looks like.
And inside the courtroom an unusual situation unfolded, a very rare situation, in which the case ran its course without the plaintiffs, only with the representatives of the authorities …
Radio Bavaria 1, “Afternoon in Main-Franconia Region” – Dec. 7, 2006(Excerpt) "Animal Protectors Are Unsuccessful"
On Thursday, the Administrative Court Würzburg dismissed the application of two landowners to suspend hunting on their hunting grounds for 10 years. The landowners, who are close to the community of faith “Universelles Leben,” wanted hunting wild pigs and deer to stop for 10 years in their woods near Greußenheim (district Würzburg) and in the Triefenstein woods (district Main-Spessert). Among other things, they pled the basic right of freedom of conscience. But the court did not want to recognize these grounds: The owners of the hunting grounds were not allowed to plead their conscience – because their presence at the process was in their capacity as a limited company and not as so-called “natural persons.” … The controversial ruling was announced in the absence of the plaintiffs and their lawyer.,. who called the proceedings “an event that could not be taken seriously” and had left the courtroom together with his clients and circa 100 sympathizers in the public. Grounds: A motion of appeal based on concern for bias against the presiding judge – who goes hunting himself – was dismissed. Jurists assume the lawsuit will move through all instances, perhaps even as far as the European Court of Human Rights in Straßburg.
Bavarian Radio, Bavaria Today – Dec. 7, 2006(Excerpt) "No Closed Season for Wild Animals"
With a dead wild pig, animal friends protested today in front of the Administrative Court Würzburg against what they consider “barbaric murder” by hunters. But the court wasn’t impressed by this and rejected the application of two landowners who wanted to stop hunting in their woods for a period of 10 years.
The ruling came down in the absence of the plaintiffs: They had left the courtroom already at the beginning of the proceedings, after a challenge based on concern for bias against the presiding judge – who, according to the plaintiffs is a hunter himself – was rejected. The two plaintiffs wanted to push through the suspension of hunting wild pigs and deer for 10 years in their woods near Greußenheim (district Würzburg) and in the Triefenstein woods (district Main-Spessert). They pled the basic right of freedom of conscience – grounds that the court did not accept, however, because in the end the owners had appeared as a GmbH (limited firm) and not as so-called natural persons. …
It is assumed that with this ruling by a court of the first instance, the case is not by a long shot closed. Jurists assume that because of the differing legal positions a turn through all the courts is possible – perhaps even going as far as the European Court of Human Rights in Straßburg.
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