Monday, October 4th, 2021
According to a complaint for cruelty to animals
Public prosecutor’s office is investigating Schleu
The modern pentathlon causes horror at the Olympic Games. The German athlete Annika Schleu and her trainer are accused of cruelty to animals. The Animal Welfare Association reports them. The public prosecutor’s office establishes an initial suspicion – now investigations begin.
The Potsdam public prosecutor’s office is investigating the modern pentathlete Annika Schleu and national trainer Kim Raisner after a complaint from the Animal Welfare Association for animal cruelty. “After establishing initial suspicions, we started investigations against both of them,” confirmed the public prosecutor’s office, Sebastian Thiele. The investigation would be conducted because of the accused’s place of residence in the Potsdam authority.
The German Animal Welfare Association had filed a criminal complaint against modern pentathlete Annika Schleu and national trainer Kim Raisner after incidents at the Olympic Games. As the organization announced, it accuses Schleu of cruelty to animals and Raisner of aid to cruelty to animals because of the events at the equestrian competition.
The horse drawn by Schleu had refused in the course in Tokyo, Raisner had the crying Berliner with the words “Hit it!” prompted to use the device. Schleu missed insight in subsequent interviews, criticized the Animal Welfare Association. Animals have no place in a performance-oriented competition between people, said Tierschutzbund President Thomas Schröder in August. The advertisement also serves to fundamentally clarify this problem.
Schleu defends himself
In an interview with the weekly newspaper “Die Zeit” after the Olympics, Schleu defended himself against the accusation of torturing her horse in competition. “I did not treat the horse extremely harshly. I had a crop that was checked beforehand. Just like the spurs. I am really not aware of any cruelty to animals,” said the 31-year-old. But she also confessed that she might have said earlier, “okay, it just has no value”.
The German Equestrian Association (FN) recently planned to increase the pressure on the modern pentathlon. After the Schleu affair, organized equestrian sports were also forced to justify themselves. “We see it as our task to exert pressure,” said the 62-year-old FN President Hans-Joachim Erbel at the CHIO in Aachen. “We say that the pentathletes should take out riding. If they can’t, they should change the regulations so that they protect animals and people.”