EIt’s 35 degrees in the shade. “Freedom for Michael,” shout the “lateral thinkers” in front of the prison in Stuttgart-Stammheim. You mean Michael Ballweg, the founder of your movement, because he has been in custody since the end of June. Prosecutors are investigating fraud and money laundering. Ballweg is said to have accepted donations as gifts, misused them and not properly taxed them. He is also said to have prepared his escape. His lawyers say there is only a small delta between spending and income for the “lateral thinker” movement. And there was never a risk of flight. “He just wanted to know from an airline whether he would have to take his Irish Setter in the cabin or in a dog box,” says his lawyer Alexander Christ. There are no valid reasons for Ballweg’s detention.
That’s why the “lateral thinkers” have been demonstrating for weeks. Sometimes in Stammheim, sometimes in front of the Reichstag in Berlin. They are convinced of the innocence of their leader and the evil of the Berlin Corona regime. Eight lawyers are taking care of Michael Ballweg. In the beginning there were even eleven, because the former entrepreneur is about to divorce his wife, who is also being investigated. For his supporters, Ballweg is a “political prisoner,” and given the alleged harassment by prosecutors, Christ says he can understand that “partially.”