Judges in Germany have ordered the immediate release of Gustl Mollath from an institution for the criminally insane, pending a retrial of his case. His incarceration for seven years has been dubbed a legal scandal.
Mollath, a 56-year-old former restorer of vintage cars, was committed against his will in 2006 after a court found him to be a danger to society. Prosecutors alleged he had attacked his wife and slashed the tyres of several cars belonging to her legal representatives – charges for which he was never convicted. Instead, the court found he was not responsible for his actions because he was mentally ill.
Mollath has long denied the allegations against him and said he was being unjustly persecuted for blowing the whistle on tax evasion at HypoVereinsbank, where his wife, from whom he is now divorced, was an employee. The tax evasion scheme described by Mollath was used as evidence that he suffered from paranoid delusions. In 2012, a review of the 2003 dealings of the Bavarian HypoVereinsbank was made public by an investigative German TV magazine. The report backed some of Mollath’s tax evasion claims against his wife, and found that bank employees had indeed violated both internal policies and German laws against money laundering. It warned that Mollath had “insider knowledge” and could go public with the information.
The decision to release Mollath was applauded by leading politicians of Bavarian ruling CSU. The high profile case had turned into an embarrassment in the run up to September’s election for the state parliament, as CSU Justice Minister Beate Merk stressed her belief that Mollath had received fair treatment all along.
