In your view, why are the proceedings against both of you, as well as former DFB President Wolfgang Niersbach and former FIFA Secretary General Urs Linsi, which were discontinued in Switzerland almost a year and a half ago, still pending in Germany?
twenties: A lot comes together there. In fact, the Swiss procedure was nonsensical from the start. This procedure then came to a standstill in 2020 due to the statute of limitations. The hiring decision states that the hiring is tantamount to an acquittal. We are innocent according to Swiss law. The allegations of fraud and embezzlement that have been made are gone. With a view to the Schengen Agreement, one could have expected that the Frankfurt district court would quickly bring about a further decision. One must not forget: In August 2019, the higher regional court, contrary to the regional court, took the view that there must be a main hearing. Three years is a long time, we should have been acquitted long ago because there is no truth to the accusations. The April 2005 payment to FIFA was correct and operational. I don’t know the reasons for the delay at the district court. However, up to now I have had the impression that the judges in the competent chamber are guided by the law, which I doubt about the public prosecutor’s office and the tax investigators. If I, as DFB President, had fulfilled my duties like the prosecutors, then things would have been bad for the DFB.
Theo Zwanziger, 77 years old, DFB President from 2006 to 2012, from 2003 Vice President of the World Cup Organizing Committee
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Image: dpa
Is there a time limit?
twenties: There is a requirement to accelerate, also in the European Convention on Human Rights. That’s been hurt for a long time. I don’t think everything went right. And that’s why we will investigate the matter, especially the circumstances of the decision of the Higher Regional Court to open the main proceedings against us. Because if the Senate had not illegally allowed the main hearing, then the boiler-drifting in Frankfurt and, because of the Schengen Agreement, also in Switzerland would have come to an end in 2019. The then President of the Higher Regional Court is now Hessian Minister of Justice. It’ll be interesting to see how he deals with our perverting criminal charges. I’m curious to see what standards will be applied.
Even after many years, do you see yourself as unjustly persecuted, first by the Swiss judiciary, now by the German?
twenties: In this case, the Swiss judiciary appears to be a criminal structure. Criminal investigations are underway against those primarily responsible for the so-called FIFA complex, the former chief of the public prosecutor Michael Lauber and Oliver Thormann, the presiding judge of the appeals chamber in Bellinzona. In Switzerland, there is an absurd theater that no one can take seriously from a constitutional point of view. I am not alone with this assessment, because after all, the chief prosecutor has already been forced to resign
These are serious allegations.
