The German group buying ticket dodgers out of prison - BBC News

A Nazi-era law in Germany jails those who can't pay public transport fares. Arne buys their freedom.

1 day agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage caption, Arne Semsrott says a German law which can land people in prison for not buying public transport tickets is unjustBy Tim ManselBBC NewsOne day in late 2021, Arne Semsrott set out with €20,000 ($21,200; £17,000) stuffed into his pockets. Some of it was his, some he had borrowed from friends. He admits to having been a little nervous.

"I had no idea if this was going to work," he says.

His destination was the Plötzensee prison in the north-west of Berlin. His plan was to buy out as many prisoners as the cash in his pockets would allow.

Arne, a 35-year-old journalist and activist, had discovered a loophole in the German legal system.

Someone sentenced to pay a fine doesn't have to pay it themselves. In exploiting the loophole he hoped to draw attention to what he saw as a glaring injustice: the law that enables judges to send people to prison for not buying a ticket on public transport.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-66664823?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA

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