The University of Hamburg is investigating indications of possible scientific misconduct on the part of constitutional judge candidate Frauke Brosius-Gersdorf. She has been nominated for the election by the SPD, but is rejected by parts of the CDU/CSU. After initial media reports about alleged parallels between her doctoral thesis and her husband's habilitation thesis around two weeks ago, the university had not yet seen any reason for a review because no sufficiently substantiated evidence had been brought to its attention.
Now a spokesperson told the German Press Agency that the ombudsman's office had received well-founded reports in the wake of the media coverage. According to its statutes, it is obliged to investigate this. This also concerns the husband of the lawyer now working at the University of Potsdam, Hubertus Gersdorf. There were also reports against the professor at the University of Leipzig. The Berlin newspaper "Tagesspiegel" had previously reported on this.
Principle of the presumption of innocence
The spokesperson said that the investigation was being conducted expressly in accordance with the principle of the presumption of innocence. The allegations would now first be examined in terms of their plausibility and significance. "If the allegations meet the principles set out in the statutes, a formal ombudsman procedure will be initiated for a preliminary examination of the allegations."
An external scientific expert can also be called in to assess the allegations. Based on this expert opinion and all other available information and documents, the ombudsman panel will then assess the overall facts of the case.
Brosius-Gersdorf had commissioned an expert opinion herself
Brosius-Gersdorf and her husband had previously commissioned a brief expert opinion from a law firm in Stuttgart. This came to the preliminary conclusion that the accusation of scientific misconduct against her is unfounded, as the lawyers explained in an accompanying letter.
The allegations were made immediately before the election of the judge in the Bundestag, which ultimately fell through. Austrian plagiarism investigator Stefan Weber published the parallels between her doctoral thesis and her husband's habilitation thesis. Brosius-Gersdorf's dissertation was submitted to the University of Hamburg in 1997, while her husband Hubertus' habilitation thesis was submitted to the same university in the summer semester of 1998.
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