RNN – Refugee News Network (27.01.05 – Berlin) On the 27th of January, the Administrative Court of Goettingen summoned Cornelius Yufanyi of The VOICE – Refugee Forum to appear before the court to declare all of his possessions. He is to pay a fine of approximately 240 euros or face imprisonment for having violated the Residence Obligation Law.

Meanwhile Cornelius Yufanyi,whose charges date back to the year 2000, continued to uphold his believe in the natural right to freedom of movement and could not comprehend enriching the coffers of the government to further rob refugees of their rights. In December 2004, another Voice activist Sunny Omwenyeke was sentenced to fifteen days imprisonment for the same reason. The mighty German state is now on an all out offensive against refugees who see nothing wrong in exhibiting that natural instinct of free movement. Is history not repeating itself, does this not remind us of many decades ago? But now this is 21st Century “democratic Germany”

The rebirth of the residence obligation law now dates back to 1982, a law which is only uniqe to Germany among the community of modern European countries. Indeed, this special piece of legislation can only be compared to the Apartheid Pass Laws of South Africa or the restrictions of movement in the Occupied Territories of Palestine. We should not and must not forget or avoid the fact that this racist and inhumane law dates back to a time which many Germans are supposedly ashamed of: National Socialism, also known as the Nazi period.

As part of a police decree for the control of residency and movement of all foreigners living in German territory, Residenzpflicht, translated Residence Obligations Law, was incoporated into the German laws in 1938. All foreigners were to report to the Ausländerpolizei or Alien Citizen Police before leaving their town or district. Any person caught outside of the established area without previous reporting to the authorities was considered to be commiting a criminal act and punished with imprisonment or a fine of 150 Reichmark.

Now, over 60years laters, following the end of National Socialist rule in Germany, the fall of the Berlin Wall, significant changes have taken place. For instance, Residenzpflicht is no longer based on a police decree but instead is put down in national law; those in charge of granting or denying permission are no longer the Ausländerpolizei but the Ausländerbehörde or Alien Citizens’ Office; the Ausländerpolizei, first renamed Bundesgrenzschutz or National Border Protection, has now been converted into simply the National Police, which means its influence has no borders. The former Reichmark, later renamed Deutschmark, is now called Euro; Nazis are now integrated into the government; Germans are proud of being Germans, more and more foreigners are being deported and the Second Nürenberg Trials is yet to take place.

Thüringen: “The Free State”

Since coming to Germany in search of protection from persecution, Cornelius Yufanyi has been confronted with discrimination, exclusion, direct and indirect racism, the arbitrariness of the authorities and even violence on a daily basis. Upon soliciting asylum, he was immediately sent to the “Free State” of Thüringen, where he experienced some of the federal state’s most notorious housing centers (called Heims). He was told that, in order to avoid comiting criminal offenses, he must remain within his Landkreis or district, not to leave it at any moment without the written approval of the local Alien Citizen’s Office, which is categorically
denied for political activities and generally given out once a month for a period of three days. So is the order given to the Alien Citizens’ Offices by the Thüringen Ministry of Interior.

Following a 1998 hunger strike in Cologne to protest the treatment of refugees in Europe, which took place as part of the mobilizations against the G-8 Summit meeting and the European Union, Cornelius was transferred to a small heim in the middle of the forest in northern Thüringen in the district of Worbis.He was not deterred by the transfer and continued to exercise his civic and political responsibilities reminding refugees of the need to be conscious of their rights and the German public of their moral, social and democratic responsibilities.The campaign against social exclusion, restriction of movement and deportations are tasks that must be done by Cornelius and his organisation the Voice forum.

In the Alien Citizens Office in Worbis, Cornelius became public enemy no. 1. He was constantly denied permission to travel outside his district by Mr. Schaefer, who informed him that Cornelius was not in Germany as a tourist and should stay in his heim and await his decision. When Cornelius and other refugees organized a protest against the deplorable living conditions in the heim and the food coupons or Gutschein system, the women working at the Social Office told him that the“Brown Nazis”were organizing themselves and he would be made the scape goat.

History of a Punishment

The case against Cornelius and why the German authorities intend to put him in prison date back to the year 2000.In April 2000, The Voice Refugee Forum of which Cornelius is a member organized a congress of refugees and migrants with over 500 participants from all over the world. During the congress, Cornelius carried out several interviews with local, national and International media regarding the situation of refugees and migrants in Germany, denouncing racism, social exclusion and especially the Residenzpflicht. Later, Mr. Schaefer of the Alien Citizens Office read one of the articles about the congress and used it as evidence to begin a criminal case against Cornelius for having been outside his district without permission.

Court proceedings were eventually held in the town of Worbis in October, 2000. Accompanied by over one hundred supporters, Cornelius was there to defend his dignity and most fundamental rights to move as a free man within Germany like anyone else. For Cornelius, it was not him who was on trial but the racist Obligatory Residency Law. The state Prosecutor on the other hand, took advantage of the moment and brought several cases together against Cornelius for moving out of his district without written permission.The State Attorney General demanded 600 Deutschmarks, now 300 Euros following currency change. Cornelius and many observers considered justice was not done.

A well organised public information campaign and mobilisation to the court hearing under the spotlight of the national media was carried out. This made the authorities to handle the case with caution. Two offers that fell short of acquittal and outright justice were made to drop the charges against him, which Cornelius considered tricky and refused.
His expectation was not that of pardon but justice and acquittal. Finally, the court decided that he should pay a fine of 300DM or 150 euros.

The amount of fine to pay is irrelevant so long as such fine aid and abett the perpetration of injustice, it should be denouced. On the premise of such conviction Cornelius has refused to pay the fine. As a result, the Administrative Court of Göttingen, where Cornelius officially lives since 2000, informed him to present a detailed list of all his possessions until the 27th of January or face imprisonment.
When asked what he thinks about this Cornelius just laughs and begins to talk about all his possessions that have been taken away from him even before coming here: rubber, wood, oil, fruits, coffee…

The German Silence

Besides the fact that the German government acted with such calculated cruelty during the time of National Socialism, two other aspects that were very obvious were, the silence of the population and the outright sickness of the methods used long before ever having developed a “final solution”. Ghettos were created, absurd racist laws developed, mass deportations were carried out, and the overwhelming majority of Germans either closed their eyes or eagerly participated like butchers going to slaughter.

Just as in Auschwitz, where it was prohibited to call dead bodies “corpses” but instead “figures”, the new word of Interior minister Otto Schily for “concentration camps” in Northern Africa are “Begrüßungs-“, or Welcome Centers. And while the world commemorates the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, democratic Germany is officially building deportation lagers and planning the deportation in the near future of more than 100,000 unwanted foreigners, 21,000 of them from Berlin alone. And this is hidden behind the mask of what they call the new “immigration” law.

That Cornelius will be imprisoned for exercising freedom of movement is a matter of time and this will happen characteristically with little outcry. His going to prison will as well profile him in the statistics under “criminal foreigners.” We can only be thankful that when he gets out of prison, nobody else is living in his home and wearing his clothes.
That Germans have learnt the lessons of “Nie Wieder”, Never Again is a subject of discussion.

The VOICE Refugee Forum.
Cornelius Yufanyi, Tel. Mobile 0170 8788124
http://www.thevoiceforum.org/cornlius-forum

Donation; Förderverein The VOICE e.V.
Bankverbindung: Kto.Nr.: 127 829, BLZ: 260 500 01, Sparkasse Göttingen.

The VOICE Refugee Forum,
Schillergäschen 5,07745 Jena. Tel.0049 3641 665214.
thevoiceforum@emdash.org
http://www.thevoiceforum.org