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Germany | 05.12.2006

German Court Considers Investigation Into Student Death

Gro=C3=9Fansicht des Bildes mit der = Bildunterschrift:=20 Jeremiah Duggan was 22 = when he=20 died

Jeremiah Duggan was a young British = student=20 who met a mysterious death in Germany in 2003. The Constitutional Court = is=20 currently considering whether to order a new investigation into what=20 happened.

In the early hours of March 27, 2003, the body of a young man was = found on=20 the B455 freeway outside Wiesbaden. After questioning motorists, local = police=20 concluded Jeremiah Duggan had committed suicide by running into traffic, = and the=20 case was closed.

But in the last three and a half years, Jeremiah's mother has amassed = evidence which she says proves her son did not take his own life -- and = also=20 suggests that the perfunctory police investigation was badly flawed. = Even so,=20 despite the fact that the coroner at the British inquest in November = 2003 said=20 there was nothing in the German police evidence to suggest Jeremiah's = death=20 could be suicide, German courts have refused to reopen the case.

"The police investigation was incomplete," argues Erica Duggan's = lawyer=20 Hans-Eberhard Schultz. "No autopsy was performed on the body, and no = witness=20 statements were taken from the drivers of the cars. At the very least, = these=20 people need to be questioned again thoroughly."

Erica Duggan is haunted by questions no one seems willing to help her = answer.=20 "Why doesn't Germany want to investigate the full circumstances of his = death?"=20 she asks.

A search for clues

Bildunterschrift: Jeremiah was described by = friends=20 as a happy, well-balanced young man

One report she commissioned from former Scotland Yard forensics = expert Paul=20 Canning earlier this year suggests that nothing less than a cover-up may = have=20 taken place.

According to his = findings, the=20 tracks on the road did not match the police version of how the accident=20 happened, and there were no signs of glass, tire marks or crushing of = the body=20 to prove it had been run over.

After examining = photographs of=20 the scene of the accident taken by German police, Canning concluded: "I = do not=20 believe that the images depict how Jerry came to meet his premature = death. It is=20 possible that Jerry lost his life elsewhere, prior to being placed at = this=20 scene."

In November, Erica = Duggan filed=20 the case with the German Constitutional Court. "I lost my son, but = unless the=20 Constitutional Court supports my rights, I have the added trauma of = having lost=20 justice," she says.

With her fresh information all pointing to an unsolved mystery, it is = now up=20 to the court in Karlsruhe to decide the next move.

"Who knows why the investigation was so inadequate, but it was, and = it's high=20 time it was reopened," says Schultz.

The facts

Jeremiah was a 22-year-old British student who had been studying in = Paris. In=20 early 2003, he fell in with a group of young people who sold Nouvelle Solidarit=C3=A9, a = newspaper=20 published by controversial US millionaire and political campaigner = Lyndon=20 LaRouche.

The group invited Jeremiah to Wiesbaden to attend a conference = organized by=20 the LaRouche Youth Movement and the related Schiller Institute run by = LaRouche's=20 German wife Helga Zepp, which has been described by Britain's = Metropolitan=20 Police as "a political cult with sinister and dangerous connections." =

But Jeremiah knew nothing of this. Believing he would be attending a = seminar=20 critical of the imminent war against Iraq, he left for Wiesbaden on = March=20 21.

On March 27 he rang his mother in London in the middle of the night = sounding=20 terrified. "I am in terrible trouble...I'm frightened," he managed to = say before=20 being cut off. Minutes later, he was dead. To the German police, the = call=20 indicated he was suicidal. To his mother, it sounded as though he feared = for his=20 life.

LaRouche and B=C3=BCSo woo = idealistic=20 youths

3D"Lyndon Bildunterschrift: Gro=C3=9Fansicht des Bildes mit der = Bildunterschrift:=20 Lyndon LaRouche on the = campaign=20 trail

According to Pastor Thomas Gandow, Sect Commissioner of the = Evangelical=20 Church in Berlin-Brandenburg, Jeremiah's involvement with the Schiller = Institute=20 might well have taken a sinister turn, especially after he revealed he = was=20 Jewish.

Lyndon LaRouche's group and its political German wing, B=C3=BCSo = (Civil Rights=20 Movement Solidarity), have long been accused of propagating a virulent = brand of=20 anti-Semitism.

Lecture notes found in Jeremiah's bag after his death apparently = pointed to=20 anti-Semitic conspiracy theories to explain the background to the Iraq = war and=20 other global problems.

"We know very little about this institute," says Gandow. "It appears = to=20 operate as an intelligence service as well as a youth religion. Opposing = the=20 Iraq war is one of the ways it recruits idealistic young people.

"Despite being known to operate like a cult, for some reason it is = not=20 monitored by the government =E2=80=93 even though other sects such as = Scientology are,"=20 he points out. "Basically, the fact that the Institute has not been = investigated=20 is a scandal."

Anti-Semitism

The Simon Wiesenthal Centre is equally alarmed by the LaRouche Youth = Movement=20 and the Schiller Institute.

Last month, its director for international relations Shimon Samuels = wrote to=20 German Justice Minister Brigitte Zypries urging her to "reopen the = public=20 investigation of this case at the highest Federal level, to hold an = inquiry as=20 to whether Jeremiah Duggan's Jewish identity played any role in his = death, and=20 to impose the full application of German law to the supervision of the = LaRouche=20 Youth Movement and its network of affiliates."

In 2004, a former member of the Schiller Institute told the BBC that = "people=20 tend to be drawn into it who did not want to be drawn into it -- who did = not=20 want to join a cult or sect." She added that conferences entailed = immense=20 psychological duress.

"I was freaked out and I experienced that other people were freaked = out. I=20 saw people who went out of their mind," she said.

Jeremiah might have experienced similar pressure.

"Perhaps these people exerted such psychological pressure on Jeremiah = that he=20 panicked," says sect commissioner Gandow. "Perhaps they wanted to make = an=20 example of him. Who knows?"

Standard practice

3D"LaRouche Bildunterschrift: Gro=C3=9Fansicht des Bildes mit der = Bildunterschrift:=20 LaRouche has run as a = presidential=20 candidate several times

Even though Jeremiah's passport was found to have been in the = possession of=20 the Schiller Institute when he died, police failed to question any of = its=20 staff.

Hartmut Ferse, press spokesperson for the Public Prosecutors' Office = in=20 Wiesbaden, still insists there was nothing amiss with the way the case = was=20 handled.

Then as now, police insisted the activities of the Schiller Institute = played=20 "no role" in the investigation. "This was a cut and dried suicide," said = Ferse.=20 "It is not our job to explore the motives for why someone should take = their own=20 life."

"There was simply no evidence of any third party involvement which = would have=20 necessitated further investigation. Clearly, no one pushed this young = man onto=20 the road."

He argues that it is standard practice not to take formal witness = statements=20 in a case in which the facts are unequivocal. "The drivers were = questioned and=20 let go, because there was nothing unusual in their statements," he = insists.

Lyndon LaRouche, meanwhile, has dismissed the case as a "hoax" = masterminded=20 by his sworn enemy Dick Cheney.

"London sources tied intimately to Dick Cheney have once again = launched a=20 press campaign on behalf of a repeatedly discredited hoax," he wrote = recently in=20 his newspaper The Executive = Intelligence=20 Review. "This concerns the causes and circumstances of the suicide = by a=20 young, emotionally troubled British national, Jeremy Duggan, who, as the = official forensic evidence showed beyond doubt, threw himself repeatedly = against=20 moving automobiles on a highway near Wiesbaden."

Jane Paulick

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Germany | 05.12.2006

German Court Considers Investigation Into Student Death

Jeremiah Duggan was a young British = student=20 who met a mysterious death in Germany in 2003. The Constitutional Court = is=20 currently considering whether to order a new investigation into what=20 happened.

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Germany | 05.12.2006

German Court Considers Investigation Into Student Death

Jeremiah Duggan was a young British = student=20 who met a mysterious death in Germany in 2003. The Constitutional Court = is=20 currently considering whether to order a new investigation into what=20 happened.

More on the topic

DW-WORLD

Your Comments

Picture of the Day

DW-Radio

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E-Learning

Features

Today in = History=20

Readers' Corner

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De= utsche=20 Welle