Sunday, December 25, 2022

Case „Dragon Lord“: 
The total failure of the judiciary, media and society

Story by Refresh News • 

Case „Dragon Lord“: The total failure of the judiciary, media and society© Provided by Refresh Lifestyle CAEN

The Franconian YouTuber „Drachenlord“ was sentenced to two years in prison for several offences. His actions are described by the judge as a sad consequence of hate and bullying on the Internet. But now the journalist and author Sascha Lobo describes the failure of the judiciary and „Dragon Lord“ is appealing against his verdict. What is behind the case of the controversial YouTubers?

The 32-year-old YouTuber “Drachenlord” from Middle Franconia has been uploading videos to the Internet or streaming them live for around ten years. Around 166,000 subscribers follow him on the YouTube platform. In his videos he comments on everyday events, computer games or even political events, according to the „Süddeutsche Zeitung“ partly misogynistic and anti-Semitic. Over the years he has collected both fans and haters, some of whom not only visit him virtually, but also at his private house. This leads to several police operations almost every day

What exactly happened?


„Dragon Lord“ had, among other things, hit a man in the forehead with a flashlight during an argument. He also threw a brick at another and insulted them police officers. It was not the first time that the YouTuber, whose real name is Rainer Winkler, was on trial for assault. After a pepper spray attack, he was sentenced to a suspended sentence of seven months in September 2019, but he already committed new offenses during his probationary period.

The YouTuber was recently back in court for seven cases of insult, defamation and assault. This time the sentence is two years in prison. The YouTuber is appealing his verdict with his lawyer. In a video, he said he felt the punishment was „unfair“ because he was „defending himself, nothing else.“ The public prosecutor’s office is also appealing – but is demanding an even higher sentence. The journalist, author and Internet expert Sascha Lobo, on the other hand, mentions the case in his column a catastrophic failure of the judiciary, media and society.

The mirror column

Lobo now wrote in his Spiegel column that, in his opinion, the verdict of the procedure was an outrageous one that testified to the ignorance, unwillingness and incomprehension of the district court and the public prosecutor. The case of the „Dragon Lord“ is a story of failure in digital society, for which media, politics, the executive, the judiciary and the public are responsible.

The many insults, threats and deprecation that the YouTuber has to endure every day now number in the hundreds of thousands. They invade his private life, he is ambushed, his sister is threatened and his father’s grave desecrated. In the summer of 2018, around 800 people gathered around his house and threw stones, eggs and firecrackers at it. The many haters, a real hate mob, claim it’s a game, Winkler wants it that way himself. In truth, according to Lobo, the YouTuber tried to fight back for years and finally tried to somehow live with it. It’s not a game, someone is being tortured here with the declared goal of driving Winkler to suicide.

But cyberbullying is in Germany no crime so far. According to Lobo, Winkler was a victim who was terribly tormented and who had no choice but to defend himself – the verdict was a classic one perpetrator-victim reversal with the most lavish means. The hate mob tries to elicit sentences from Winkler on the basis of which it is claimed that he is a Holocaust denier, racist, misogynist. For years, according to Lobo, the haters made sure that the results of superficial research made Winkler appear as a bad person. Of course, Winkler behaved incorrectly – but out of „a deep, inescapable desperation and forced lack of alternatives,“ said Sascha Lobo.

The future will show how the case will continue and whether „Dragon Lord“ can avert his punishment. 

Why some people are capable of so much hate is just upsetting and sad.

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