The President of the Osnabrück Administrative Court, Gert Armin Neuhäuser, has resigned from his position as chairman of the Association of Lower Saxony Administrative Judges (VNVR). He blames a “political campaign” by the taz for this.
He does not want his resignation to be seen as an admission of guilt; he is more interested in ensuring that the important work of the association is not damaged by debates about himself, he explained to his board colleagues.
The taz had reported that Neuhäuser may be connected to the Instagram account “profdrcn” (formerly: profdrgan).which repeatedly posted derogatory comments, especially about women and queer people. The Austrian musician Schwesta Ebra is insulted as a “presswurst”, while the comment to a musician who promotes a lesbian and gay city festival in Berlin, the “Motz Street Festival”, is: “Kotz Street Festival”. There are a number of indications that these posts could have come from Neuhäuser.
Neuhäuser does not want to comment on these Instagram posts. Some of the criticized statements disappeared after the taz inquiry. The judge only lets his lawyer speak. And he emphasizes to various media outlets that the revelations are politically motivated.
Horrified by comments
Under Neuhäuser’s chairmanship, the Osnabrück Administrative Court decided in January 2025 that a police officer who was involved in right-wing chat groups, should not be removed from the service, but merely demoted.
Neuhäuser said he wanted to legally defend himself against the taz’s suspicious reporting. He also filed a complaint with the Press Council.
It is not yet clear what professional consequences this affair will have. Both the Ministry of Justice and the University of Hanover, where Neuhäuser teaches as an honorary professor, expressed horror at the hate comments themselves. However, both institutions also announced that, in their eyes, Neuhäuser’s possible authorship has not yet been proven with sufficient certainty.
The public prosecutor’s office is examining criminal liability
For Justice Minister Kathrin Wahlmann (SPD) The case is also sensitive because she has given a lot of space to the issue of hate comments on the Internet and protecting women from unwanted images, verbal harassment and violence during her time in office.
Neuhäuser had until Tuesday to submit a statement to the Higher Administrative Court in Lüneburg, which has disciplinary jurisdiction. This will now be examined there in order to decide whether there is any misconduct relevant to service law.
Regardless of this, the responsible public prosecutor’s office in Göttingen must check whether the statement crosses the line of criminal liability. However, if personal insults are involved, this usually requires a criminal complaint. Only in more serious cases, so-called inflammatory insults, can something like this become an official offense.
“Such a misogynistic worldview contradicts the basic values of the judiciary,” says the legal policy spokeswoman for the Greens in the Lower Saxony state parliament, Evrim Camuz. In order not to further endanger the reputation of the judiciary, a quick investigation is now necessary – in the interest of the suspect, as well as the public and, above all, the students who meet him in the exam. However, she would also like to wait for a calm clarification of the facts – because in the end, trust in the rule of law weighs more heavily than a headline.