Unter Anklage: Der Fall Harry Wörz is a historical drama (based on a true story), which premiered on German television (ARD) in 2014.
The topic is the case of Harry Wörz, who was the victim of a wrongful conviction.
Here is some basic information about this drama:
** English title: Accused: The Case of Harry Wörz
** Director: Till Endemann
** Writers: Till Endemann and Holger Joos
** Language: German
** Subtitles: German
** Run time: 90 minutes
The cast includes the following:
** Rüdiger Klink as Harry Wörz
** Katja Bürkle as Anke – Harry’s new girlfriend
** Felix Klare as Hubert Gorka – Harry’s lawyer
** Stefanie Stappenbeck as Nicole Gorka – Hubert’s wife
Wrongful convictions are not a major problem in Germany, but they do happen from time to time.
While the case of Harry Wörz is well-known in Germany, it is probably not so well-known outside Germany.
In 1997, Harry was accused of a serious crime: according to the police and the prosecutor of the town in which he lived, he had attacked and tried to kill his ex-wife.
The ex-wife survived, but she was injured and unable to speak. She could not name the person who had attacked her and tried to kill her.
Harry was arrested and charged. He never confessed. He insisted that he was innocent. But this did not help him.
In 1998, he was tried in a court of law where he was found guilty. He was sentenced to 11 years in prison.
Having served four years and seven months in prison, he was released while he waited for a new trial.
His lawyer had showed that the local police had committed some serious mistakes when they had investigated the case.
Members of the local police force were personally connected to the case:
** The ex-wife was a police officer
** Her father was a police officer
** Her new boyfriend was a police officer
The local police force could not be neutral and objective when they investigated this case. The local police force should never have been allowed to investigate a case which involved members of the force.
There was no physical evidence which proved that Harry was responsible for this crime.
The evidence was circumstantial. But the local police were convinced that Harry was guilty and they had a tunnel vision when they investigated the case:
** They did not look for other suspects
** The did not look for evidence which might show that Harry was innocent
A new trial ended with a peculiar result: the court declared that Harry seemed to be guilty, but the evidence was not strong enough to declare him guilty.
He was free, but he was presumed guilty!
Under these conditions, it was very difficult for him to start a new life.
He could not get a job.
One company said to him:
“We would like to hire you, but we cannot hire you right now, because you are presumed guilty. Come back when you are declared innocent.”
Harry and his lawyer went back to court hoping to get a new verdict which declared him innocent.
After a while, they got it, but the local prosecutor refused to accept the verdict and appealed to a higher court.
Finally, in 2010, Harry was declared innocent.
Since the drama was shown on German television, there have been some further developments in the case.
In 2014, the authorities offered Harry economic compensation for the wrongful conviction.
They offered him 41,900 Euro.
How did they reach this figure?
This amount was based on a rate of 25 Euro per day during the time when Harry was in prison.
1,676 days x 25 Euro = 41,900 Euro
But having made this offer, they told him that he had to pay for his room (the cell) and the food he had eaten while he was in prison. The price of room and board amounted to ca. 15,000 Euro.
This means that after payment for room and board had been subtracted, his compensation was reduced to ca. 25,000 Euro.
This was not even enough to pay the bill from his lawyer. How could he start a new life when he owed money to his lawyer?
Harry and his lawyer were not prepared to accept this offer. They said the authorities had ruined Harry’s life over a period of more than ten years. Harry had been forced to sell his motorbike and some furniture in order to survive. They insisted that the authorities had to make a better offer.
In 2016, the authorities made a new offer, but the amount was not revealed to the public.
In 2017, the two sides agreed on a settlement which gave Harry a compensation of 450,000 Euro.
Twenty years after Harry had been arrested, the case was finally settled. Not only the legal aspect but also the financial aspect of the case.
What do reviewers say about this drama?
On IMDb it has a rating of 75 percent, which corresponds to 3.8 stars on Amazon.
On the German version of Amazon there are at the moment 73 ratings of this product, 23 with reviews.
The average rating is 4.4 stars, which corresponds to a rating of 88 percent.
Here are the details:
5 stars = 70 percent
4 stars = 13 percent
3 stars = 8 percent
2 stars = 5 percent
1 star = 4 percent
As you can see, a large majority is positive: 83 percent offer four or five stars. A small minority is negative: 9 percent offer only one or two stars. A small group is in the middle: 8 percent offer three stars.
In my opinion, the rating on IMDb is too low, while the rating on Amazon is more appropriate. I understand the numerous positive reviews on Amazon and I agree with them.
I want to go all the way to the top with this product. I think it deserves a rating of five stars (100 percent).
REFERENCES
Der Richter und sein Opfer:
Wenn die Justiz sich irrt
By Thomas Darnstädt
(2013)
[The title of this book is an echo of a famous novel:
Der Richter und sein Henker
by the Swiss writer Friedrich Dürrenmatt which was first serialized in a Swiss magazine from 1950 to 1951.
The novel was published as a book in 1952. An English translation with the title The Judge and his Hangman appeared in 1954.]
On the German version of Wikipedia, you can find a list of wrongful convictions in Germany:
Liste von Justizirrtümern in der
The following item offers more information about the topic:
Yvonne Dewerne,
Wenn Justitia wirklich blind ist,
Esquire,
2 October 2021
*****
Harry Wörz
(Born in Germany in 1966)
Victim of a wrongful conviction in 1998
Exonerated in 2010
*****
Der Richter und sein Opfer:
Wenn die Justiz sich irrt
by Thomas Darnstädt
(2014)
*****
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