The alleged rape became known internally at the youth center in January following a sexual assault by a group of young people. Although the youth welfare office was informed at an early stage, Nagel, as the highest supervisory authority, is said to have only found out about this following a request from the Senate administration on March 2nd. However, Nagel himself did not file a criminal complaint with the police until March 12th.

CDU Neukölln sharply criticizes internal clarification

Neukölln’s CDU parliamentary group leader Markus Oegel describes the process as “absolutely unbelievable”, especially because the district councilor “apparently only wants to clarify the events with an internal commission”. Various media outlets had also reported that the youth welfare office did not want to prosecute the alleged rape in order to prevent “stigmatization” by naming the origin of the perpetrators. Nagel most recently denied this accusation at a meeting of the Youth Welfare Committee last Thursday.

“The district councilor has known about the crime and the subsequent inaction of the youth welfare office management since at least March 2nd – i.e. for over three weeks. Consequences? None!” explained Oegel. His group considers this to be an “unacceptable oversight on the part of the city councilor”.

“End the unbearable culture of cover-ups”

Oegel demands: “Since a positive vote of urgency from two thirds of the district councilors is necessary to submit the deselection motion, we expect appropriate support from the democratic parties.”

In order to increase the pressure to educate and respond to the “serious misconduct of the responsible city councilor,” “the district council must now demand consequences,” said Oegel. His group wants to do everything in its power to ensure clarification and consequences in the case and to “put an end to the unspeakable culture of covering up and sitting out.”