German police fear legal consequences over pushbacks at border
German police have said they are concerned that border officers might face legal problems after a court blocked the government's efforts to turn away asylum seekers at the country's borders.
Shortly after taking office last month, Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt ordered police to step up border checks and turn back irregular migrants, even if they apply for asylum.
In the first case to emerge over the controversial move, the Berlin Administrative Court ruled on Monday in favour of three Somalis who were turned back to Poland on May 9, stating that they should have been processed under the European Union's Dublin Regulation for asylum cases.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz has defended the policy in light of the ruling. But the chairman of the GdP police union, Andreas Rosskopf, on Wednesday said he was worried about what consequences the court decision would have for officers who continue to turn back people at the border.
"Of course, it is an individual case decision for now, but it remains to be said that these are cases that we face every day and therefore there is now a certain amount of uncertainty among colleagues," he told public broadcaster WDR.
Police officers are ultimately responsible for their own actions and must answer for them, the union chief noted.
Dobrindt had dismissed concerns that officers could be prosecuted for their actions as "completely absured" in earlier comments to public broadcaster ARD.
But Rosskopf said he "actually had to disagree to a certain extent."
While the minister was right in arguing that police officers were subject to clear instructions in the matter, Rosskopf said: "If it were clear and is clear that this instruction is ultimately unlawful, then police officers must fulfil so-called remonstration duties," meaning they would have to explicitly criticize the order in order to avoid legal responsibility.
"We need a written clarification that colleagues are clearly acting on instructions in this uncertain situation and cannot be held personally liable for their actions following legal proceedings in this matter," the union boss explained.
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