No more mercy for Hamburg's 'Judge Merciless'

Hamburg Mayor Ole von Beust fired the city-state's controversial interior minister on Tuesday. He said that 'law and order' man Ronald Schill had threatened to publicly out Beust as a homosexual.

"I have dismissed Mr. Schill," Beust told reporters. "I felt forced to dismiss him because Schill's character is not suited to the office."

The two men had met to discuss Schill's deputy Walter Wellinghausen, who Beust also dismissed. Wellinghausen, who had been Schill's attorney, has been accused of illegally continuing to collect pay in another capacity after he became a privy counselor. According to Beust, Schill said the mayor had made his ostensible partner his justice minister and that the two had a homosexual relationship.

'The end of a nightmare'

Relief was apparent after Schill's sacking was announced. "For the police, it's the end of a nightmare," the head of the police trade union, Konrad Freiberg, said. Even representatives from Schill's coalition partner, the, expressed relief, "We have absolutely no sympathy for Mr. Schill's behavior. We consider Mayor von Beust's actions appropriate."

Although Ronald Barnabas Schill disputed Beust's accusations, he said he now wished to retire from politics.

Hamburg's Haider

The dismissal may mark the end of a short but dramatic career in politics for the Hamburg judge. "Judge Merciless," as the German media dubbed him, first drew nationwide attention for the draconic sentences he handed down in the Hamburg court he presided over.

The "law-and-order" man formed his own political party, the Schill Party in July 2000 and campaigned in the September 2001 Hamburg elections. At the same time as fending off comparisons to Austria's rightwing politician Jörg Haider, Schill called for sex offenders to be castrated, suspected drug dealers to be fed emetics to retrieve evidence and convicted foreigners to be deported.

Throughout the campaign, he was haunted by the three-day jail sentence he had imposed on the two young men in 1999 for disturbing court proceedings. A Hamburg court had already convicted Schill of false imprisonment and perversion of justice based on accusations that he delayed a complaint made by the men.

But Schill's hardline appealed to the Hamburg electorate. His party earned 19.4% of the votes in the city state, 25 of the 121 mandates. Suddenly the Schill Party had the chance to make up part of the city's ruling coalition, which after more than three weeks of talks it did, along with the and the Free Democrats. Schill was named interior minister and deputy mayor, while two other party members headed up Hamburg ministries.

Schill's first 100 days in office, starting on October 31, 2001, were overshadowed by accusations that the senator used cocaine and the furor surrounding the expensive uniforms he ordered to make Hamburg's police look "nicer." He submitted hair for a drug test that cleared him of the drug-taking charges. Schill was acquitted of false imprisonment and perversion of justice in December 2001. Schill, the court said "objectively" perverted justice, but not on purpose, and he had lied. Hours later Schill named his defense attorney, Walter Wellinghausen, privy counselor in the interior ministry.

Uproar in parliament

The national spotlight turned to Schill again in late August 2002 when he addressed the German lower house of parliament, the, during a discussion of aid for flooded German regions. Schill used the opportunity to accuse the German governments of the past years of "total failure." Twice Schill's microphone was turned off after he refused to bring his rant to an end. Across the political spectrum German politicians and the media were scandalized by Schill's behavior. "This is the last time that such a thing will happen," Hamburg mayor Beust announced in response.

Beust has been as good as his word, despite the risk that it could have meant the end for his three-way coalition. So far though, the ruling coalition is standing firm. After a meeting on Tuesday, the three parties announced that their cooperation would continue uninterrupted. Schill Party chairman Mario Mettbach said the disgraced interior minister's predecessor will be named by Friday.

The Hamburg district attorney is investigating whether to take legal action against Schill for coercion.