Prison escape and appointments: NRW Justice Minister Limbach under pressure
After a prisoner was freed during a doctor's appointment in Essen, the Green minister had to explain himself to the legal affairs committee. SPD and FDP accuse him of failure and favouritism.
Archive image · Photo: Adam Aboudou / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped and resized)
North Rhine-Westphalia's Justice Minister Benjamin Limbach (Greens) is under pressure once again. A special session of the state parliament's legal affairs committee on Friday dealt with the escape of a convicted prisoner on Wednesday: according to ZDFheute, two masked men overpowered the two escorting prison officers during a medical appointment at a doctors' building in Essen, removed the prisoner's leg shackles and fled with him. The manhunt reportedly began only about six hours later; Essen police had not been informed of the appointment in advance. Limbach spoke of a “brazen attack on our state” and pointed to the ongoing investigation.
At the same time there are new allegations: Limbach appointed his former office manager as head of the prison department. The opposition doubts the selection process was open. FDP MP Werner Pfeil spoke of favouritism, according to ZDFheute, while SPD politician Hartmut Ganzke criticised the internal job posting. Limbach called it “an absolutely proper procedure”, saying the applicant had been the only one.
CDU home affairs politician Gregor Golland defended the minister from the coalition partner. Limbach had already had to justify the appointment to the head of the Higher Administrative Court, which the Münster administrative court judged unlawful; a committee of inquiry is examining the matter. North Rhine-Westphalia elects a new state parliament in about six months.