Criminalisation and Penalisation of Assistance to Undocumented Migrants

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One year ago a Kurdish family of seven persons was granted church asylum by the Evangelical Church Matthäus congreration in Hildesheim. When their asylum request was rejected, the family first found shelter in Wuppertal, then in Hildesheim. Gerjet Harms and Philipp Meyer, the two priests leading the congregation are now facing a trial for “trafficking of foreigners” (§92 a AuslG):  helping foreigners to illegally enter the country or assisting them in their illegal stay is risking up to 5 year imprisonment or a monetary fee. They both received  fines of 5250 Euro and 3750 Euro or up to 5 years imprisonment. The trial will take place on 3 July 2002 in Hildesheim. The attorney in charge offered to withdraw from the trial if the congregation would finish the sanctuary. The two ministers refused this proposal. They are worried about the safety of the family after deportation.  When asked, one of the pastors said: “I have no choice, I only act according to the words I preach on Sundays.”

There is also another recent case of a catholic priest in Papenburg, who lost his court case concerning the providing of church asylum. He was first fined 500 DM, lost his appeal against that decision and was fined 4000 DM. A decision against which his appeal hasn’t been accepted. The ironical element here is that the Kurdish family to whom he granted church asylum has finally been given a residence permit, after having lived in the church for 9 months.

Until now, judgments on church asylum have been exceptional. However it seems that there is no longer a tendency to ignore and tolerate.