A week after the police officially launched an investigation against Sonneberg AfD city councilor Alexander Escher, a second case has been opened against the politician. The accusation is similar to the first: Escher is said to have shouted “Heil Hitler” in a bar. The AfD man denies this accusation as well through his lawyer.
Just one week after the Thuringian police began criminal investigations against Sonneberg AfD politician Alexander Escher for allegedly using unconstitutional license plates, a second investigation has been opened against the city councilor. A spokeswoman for the Saalfeld police station told FOCUS online on Thursday when asked.
In the first case, Escher is accused of shouting the Nazi slogan “Sieg Heil” twice in the “Gewölbe Bar” in spring 2022, as FOCUS online exclusively reported in early May. The AfD politician denies the accusation through his lawyer.
The new case concerns the “Dachshöhlen” restaurant in Sonneberg. According to the owner, Peter End, a similar case involving the AfD city councilor is said to have occurred in his restaurant at the end of 2022, End explained in an interview with FOCUS online. End ran for the “Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance” in the local elections.
“This incident in my restaurant has been a recurring topic at the regulars’ table for a year and a half. At the beginning of December 2022, we had a Christmas party for a small company with seven or eight employees. Including the other guests, including many regulars, there were about 25 to 30 people in total. At a certain point in the evening, Alexander Escher came in and shouted ‘Heil Hitler’ as a greeting, in such a way that everyone could hear,” End describes the scene.
He then reprimanded Escher, the landlord told FOCUS online, “and explained that I do not want such words.” The AfD city councilor then replied with another sentence, the content of which End could no longer remember. “In any case, I then threw Escher out of the restaurant.” The “Freie Wort” was the first to report on this.
One of the guests then also left the bar in protest, End adds: “It was someone who is close to the AfD who came to me, brought his beer mat with the drinks labeled on it, paid and before leaving said something like: ‘I am close to the AfD, you know that, but I am not a Nazi. It is unbearable what the AfD city councilor has just said here.'”
End confirmed his statements to FOCUS online, as did Marcel Rocho, owner of the “Gewölbe Bar” with an affidavit.
When asked about the allegations, a lawyer from Coburg for Escher dismissed the accusations of the “Dachshöhle” innkeeper as “completely fictitious”. “At no time did my client say or shout the Nazi slogan ‘Heil Hitler’ or anything similar in the Dachshöhle restaurant in Sonneberg, neither at the beginning of December 2022 nor at any other time,” the lawyer told FOCUS online.
Escher was in the bar with a friend “for the first time” at the beginning of December 2022. The three of them “played cards for about three to four hours without any unusual incidents,” the lawyer added. Overall, the evening was “pleasant.” End “dismissively rejected” an inquiry from Escher to End as to whether he could set up an AfD regulars’ table in his bar with the words ‘Definitely not.'” Escher also had his legal counsel deny that he had been thrown out of the “badger’s den.”
Regarding the alleged incident in the “Gewölbe Bar”, Escher also denied through his lawyer that Rocho had banned him from the premises. Rather, Escher was last served “without any problems” “in the summer of 2022, i.e. after the alleged incident”.
It is currently unclear whether Escher will be charged or whether the proceedings will be dropped. Until a final conviction is made, the presumption of innocence applies.
