Seriously... I do not understand this at all. It's completely outrageous. F1 News - Schumacher?s blackmailer given suspended sentence in Germany The man who blackmailed Michael Schumacher's wife Corinna demanding 900,000 (£768,000) and threatening to kill their children has been given a suspended sentence in Germany. A 25-year-old decorator, named Huseyin B under German law, had threatened to kill Schumacher's children and warned an 'accident could happen' to Mick who was racing in Formula 4 at the time. The blackmailer had demanded £768,000 to be transferred to his personal bank account which the German authorities quickly traced. If the money is not received by March 31, your children will be killed in some way or other. In Formula 4, a lot of accidents happen, an email read from Huseyin B. Corinna Schumacher immediately reported the email to the Swiss police who traced the personal account back to German. The 25-year-old confessed to sending the email but said he didn't know why he had sent it. Prosecutors said he had planned to do something similar to Erich Sixt, the tycoon behind the Sixt car hire company, and the decorator has been given a suspended sentence of 21 months, fined 4,500 (£3,850), to complete 50 hours of community service and undergo therapy. Michael Schumacher suffered a near-fatal accident in December 2013 while skiing with his family. It was recently confirmed in a German court he cannot walk or stand as a result of the accident, when the family sued a German magazine over a report which said he could walk again. The Schumachers have heavily guarded the F1 legend's private life since the accident.
German courts are very lenient towards first offenders, especially if they show remorse or were never serious about things. This guy seems to fit in there. "Er wurde zu einem Jahr und neun Monaten auf Bewährung einer Geldstrafe von 4500 Euro, 50 Sozialstunden und einer Therapie verurteilt." He was convicted to a suspended sentence of a year and nine month and a fine of 4500 Euro, 50 hours of social service as well as therapy. The 4500 EUR already are a hefty fine and therapy suggests the person has mental issues. This story didn't feature in any serious news, also suggesting it was a non-story from day one. meh...
I guess the first time someone follows through on the threat, the courts will take them seriously? Because that's a solid plan.
Jana: they SENT him the money and he took it! I think that's following through enough. Even if you say the threats don't count it's fraud or theft or certainly some kind of serious crime.
You are wrong. The guys said: Send me the money, here is the bank details. Corinna forwarded the message to the police that traced the owner of the account and knocked on his door. He turned out to be the culprit. None of the reports suggest money was paid.
I would think the crime rate in Germany is nothing compared to the US. Both in terms of number of crimes committed as well as the severity of crimes. So that does point to some things being done right, there.
In March 2017, Italian police foiled a plot to steal Enzo Ferrari's body. I don't know if this was posted or not. Idiots on the Schumacher issue and the Enzo issue. "Cops foil plot to steal F1 racer's body" iafrica.com Cops foil plot to steal F1 racer's body
How about most of the extortion attempts received in the U.S. via email are generated from outside the U.S. and most of the extortion attempts perpetrated outside the US are not coming from the U.S. According to your logic any crime committed outside the US is less of a crime and deserves leniency. You'd rather live with Boko Haram in the jungle for three years than spend a night in Chicago is fine by me.
In case it's difficult understanding the law enforcement situation in the U.S, maybe this'll help. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTh9qpzhunE
Welcome to the jungle!!- https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/14/upshot/compare-these-gun-death-rates-the-us-is-in-a-different-world.html?_r=0 The US is far and above Germany and others in violent crime and crime in general. Courts in the US are not immune to silly sentences either. Google will elaborate. No country is perfect.
I suspect the rise in leniency toward criminals results from recognition of the failure of "correctional facilities" to live up to the name. Almost *nobody* gets "rehabilitated" in prison. This is nothing new. I can't think of any time in history where criminals were "rehabilitated" in any significant numbers. There has been speculation about psychological conditioning techniques. But that incurs massive ethical concerns, edging into meddling with free will and the individual's sense of identity. Tossing a first offender in prison surrounds him with more serious criminals. Prison averages may have shifted for the worse from retaining the most serious criminals in prison populations with the suspension of death sentences. But I'll reserve further comment for after this goes to P&R.
You misunderstand. I meant that I guess the first time one of them is kidnapped or killed the courts will take it seriously. It's unfortunately very common, even though there are stalking laws, etc. No one pays attention until there's a corpse or a missing person and then it's usually too late.
