Europe: Anti-refugee initiatives spreading lies about German justice system after Munich shooting
Yet another manipulation of the facts is making the rounds online, this time about the attack perpetrated on 22 July in Munich, Germany. Ali David Sonboly, a racist supporter of the ultra-right, murdered nine people during a shooting spree on that day.
Now the Czech-language Security magazine is citing the British tabloid news server Express.co.uk and alleging that a “brave man” who wanted to stop the Munich shooter is being prosecuted for “attacking” Sonboly. Czech news server Britské listy first reported on the manipulative rumor.
“Video footage of a Mr Salbey, who attempted to stop the mass murderer on 22 July in Munich, is making the rounds of the Internet. The details of the case are being reported in various forms on domestic social networking sites and websites and are sparking various emotions,” Petr Andreas reports for Britské listy.
The article in Security magazine has been shared online by initiatives against Islam and against receiving refugees in the Czech Republic. It alleges that 57-year-old Thomas Salbey is being prosecuted for allegedly “assaulting” the murderer.
Salbey, in his attempt to stop the murderer, reportedly began cursing at him from a fifth-floor balcony and then threw a beer bottle at him. Security magazine references the British tabloid server Express.co.uk and its article entitled “Brave man who stood up to Munich shooter now facing prosecution for ‘INSULTING killer’ “, a piece that exaggerates the entire situation in tabloid style.
“The headline alleges that Mr Salbey is facing criminal prosecution, but at the close of the article there is a quote from the spokesperson for the public prosecutor in Munich confirming that while somebody did indeed report Mr Salbey’s behavior to police and he has in fact been investigated, the prosecutor has not yet decided whether to charge him or what for. According to journalists from the German-language edition of the Huffington Post, the charge could be one of defaming a deceased person; sources agree that Mr Salbey expressed himself offensively about the murderer both during his confrontation with him and later during interviews with journalists,” Andreas reports for Britské listy.
The Czech website has distorted the entire report even further by replacing the term “INSULTING” with the term “attacking”. “In the Czech news server’s interpretation, the information published by Express that Mr Salbey faces criminal prosecution for his insults has been transformed into the untrue message that Mr Salbey faces criminal prosecution for attacking the murderer,” Andreas reports.
“At a moment when the German prosecutor is still investigating the report of a suspected crime, which in a country governed by the rule of law is the only correct, standard approach to take, and when it is still unclear whether Salbey will be charged and if so, with what, this Czech Facebook forwarder is blaming the ‘perversity’ of European values for the alleged prosecution of the allegedly brave Salbey for allegedly attacking the murderer. It doesn’t bother the forwarder that in reality reporting a crime to the police never automatically results in prosecution, or that defaming a deceased person is something different from attempting to stop a live murderer. One of the forwarder’s fans takes this case personally and dramatically asks ‘Are we going to keep standing for this?’ ” Andreas reports.
Ali David Sonboly, the 18-year-old shooter who killed nine people on 22 July in Munich and then committed suicide was, according to the police investigation, a racist supporter of the ultra-right who was proud of having been born on 20 April, just like Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. Sonboly reportedly considered himself an “Aryan” because he was born in Germany of Iranian origin and Iran is considered the area from which the Aryans first came.
During his rampage near the Olympia shopping center, Sonboly chose people who appeared to be immigrants as his victims, according to police sources. Four of the murder victims were German citizens of Turkish origin and three were Kosovo Albanians.
