A 56-year-old judge went on trial in central Germany on Tuesday on charges of sexually harassing a female colleague.
Prosecutors believe the judge "physically touched a trainee judge in a sexually suggestive manner on multiple occasions and thereby harassed her" between September 2023 and February 2025.
He is also alleged to have threatened the trainee judge. The defence described the allegations as "untenable."
According to the indictment, the defendant is alleged to have touched the "young, inexperienced trainee judge" over her clothing on her bottom and breasts on several occasions on the premises of Kassel District Court.
He is also said to have put pressure on the woman by threatening to give her a negative reference, as well as floating a possible transfer, according to the prosecution.
The woman had made it clear that she wished to have a purely professional relationship with the judge, prosecutors said.
Out of fear of being transferred away from Kassel, the trainee judge, who has a father in need of care, had tolerated the man’s behaviour for a long time, it said.
But February 2025, the "constant, latent threat" had become too much for her, and she applied for a transfer to the Kassel Regional Court, the prosecution said. The transfer took place in May 2025.
The defence characterized the allegations as "far-fetched" and based on rumours.
Before the trainee judge took up her post, there had been "mutual flirting" between the two, they said. During the period described by the prosecution, the two had been in a consensual relationship, according to the defence. "He never intended to cause her any harm."
During the testimony of the woman, who is participating in the trial at Fulda Regional Court as a joint plaintiff, the public was excluded from the proceedings at the defendant’s request. The court has initially scheduled seven further trial dates.
