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Article 1 of the German constitution is "Human dignity is inviolate". Ie, a human life has inherent value, and threats against it must not be used for any pur
by kitd 11y ago
Article 1 of the German constitution is "Human dignity is inviolate". Ie, a human life has inherent value, and threats against it must not be used for any purpose, however "good" those purposes might be on the surface. I think there is a wealth of good that emerges from this one single principle.
IIRC, a German police chief tried to torture a kidnapper to reveal the whereabouts of a child whose life was under threat. The police chief was charged even though the child's life was saved (I may have got the details skewed but I believe the key points are true).
- Xylakant 11y agoYou're referring to this case: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_David_Lukas_Olsen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_David_Lukas_Olsen (see biography, the german article is much more extensive on the case). You have your details wrong: The vice police chief threatened a suspect kidnapper with torture, but the child was already dead by that time. The police chief was later convicted (though more a slap on the wrist than a real punishment)
- kitd 11y agoThanks. It was the threat of torture from the police that I remembered.