A few days ago I arrived on the island of Mallorca to attend the Freihafen (Free Harbor) conference to discuss ways to strengthen civil society against the encroachments of centralized state power.
The conference was organized by Dr. Paul Brandenburg — an emergency and intensive care doctor who became a prominent critic of the German government’s pandemic countermeasures.
The morning after I arrived, I went for a walk on the beach and thought of Dr. Brandenburg—a wonderfully cultivated and engaging man—and how much I looked forward to seeing him that evening. Approximately 5 seconds later, I received a text notification that he had, on October 28, 2026, been arrested at Berlin Brandenburg Airport on allegations that he insulted and defamed Berlin’s Governing Mayor, Kai Wegner. (NOTE: Berlin is both an administrative state and a city, hence the title Governing Mayor).
Dr. Brandenburg was placed in pretrial detention because the Berlin public prosecutor’s office claims he is a flight risk. It seems increasingly likely he will remain in detention for at least two weeks (total) before his initial hearing his held.
According to a written statement from the Berlin Public Prosecutor’s Office (Staatsanwaltschaft Berlin), published on October 30, Brandenburg is accused of:
1). Criminal insult (Beleidigung) § 185 StGB
2). Defamation of a person in political life (Verleumdung gegen Personen des politischen Lebens) § 188(2) StGB, which carry a statutory minimum imprisonment of six months.
The prosecutor alleges that Brandenburg published statements on the internet between October 30 and December 17, 2025, accusing Governing Mayor Wegner of being a fan of the Berlin drag queen performer who goes by the name “Jurassica Parka.” (NOTE: In the drag queen community, the name Jurassic Park is widely used as a reference to older drag performers).
Parka was convicted of dissemination, acquisition, and possession of child pornographic materials in 2023, before being invited to host, perform at, or attend State and City of Berlin sponsored events.
The following is a timeline of relevant events:
“Jurassica Parka” (legal name is Mario Olszinski)
Summer 2021: Appointed as an ambassador for queer Berlin as part of the Place2Be.Berlin tourism campaign, sponsored by Berlin Tourismus & Kongress GmbH, 15% owned by the State of Berlin.
November 24, 2021: Parka uploaded a collage containing child pornographic material to Twitter (now X). Although the evidence of this illegal act was presented the moment Parka posted the images on Twitter, the Berlin police and prosecutor’s office took almost two years to take law enforcement action against him.
2022-2023: Berlin Police pursue some sort of investigation. Official case file was registered in 2023 (court file number 294 Ds 155/23) at the Tiergarten District Court. In notable contrast to the case of Dr. Paul Brandenburg, Jurassica Parka did not spend a single day in pre-trial detention, but remained free until he was convicted and ordered to pay a fine for his offense.
July 3, 2023: Berlin's Governing Mayor Kai Wegner was photographed with Jurassica Parka (middle) at the Berlin Hoffest (the Berlin Court Festival) held at the Rotes Rathaus (Red Town Hall). NOTE: The Hoffest is co-hosted and organized by the Berlin Senate Chancellery (headed by the Governing Mayor of Berlin) in cooperation with Partner für Berlin, the city's economic development agency. Based on published reports, it is not clear if Parka performed at the event or was merely invited to attend.
October 2023: Jurassica Parka was convicted of dissemination, acquisition, and possession of child pornographic materials. Following “a confession and expressions of remorse,” the Tiergarten District Court court assessed a reduced penalty consisting of a fine of 160 daily rates of €70 each, totaling €11,200.
April 2024: Parka traveled to Tokyo, Japan, after being commissioned by the German Embassy in Tokyo to appear at the Tokyo Rainbow Pride event. During the visit, footage showed Olszinski doing face-painting and makeup young attendees, some of whom appeared to be minors. As was subsequently reported, the German Foreign Office funded the appearance (covering flights, accommodation, and a €6,000 fee). When confronted about this, the Foreign Office stated it was unaware at the time of his October 2023 conviction.
August 31, 2024: Parka invited to perform as official stage host and master of ceremonies at the Queens & Flowers Festival in Berlin's Steglitz-Zehlendorf district. The Festival received €40,000 in public tourism funding.
March 26, 2025: Berlin Police received information concerning new allegations against Parka.
May 6, 2025: Berlin Public Prosecutor’s office initiated a second investigation of possession of child pornography.
July 14, 2025: Parka hosted and moderated a diversity and LSBTIQ+-themed Berlin Police Charity Gala (”Gemeinsambunt”).
July 24, 2025: Berlin Police raided Parka’s apartment and seized electronic devices containing videos and images of illegal child sexual abuse/pornography. Forensic analysis of the seized hardware revealed:
131 video files totaling more than 5 hours and 25 minutes of footage.
28 static digital images
Though the electronic devices were seized and criminal charges were subsequently filed, there are NO indications that Parka spent any time in pretrial detention.
October 30 and December 17, 2025: Dr. Paul Brandenburg allegedly published posts in which he characterized Berlin Governing Mayor Wegner of being “a fan of child molesters” and a “pedophilia ruler.”
September 23, 2026: The Tiergarten District Court (same in Parka’s first conviction) sentenced Parka to ten months' imprisonment, suspended on probation, for possession of child and adolescent sexual abuse material.
October 28, 2026: Dr. Brandenburg arrested at Berlin airport for “insulting” Berlin Governing Mayor Wegner. Unlike Parka, who remained free pending his two convictions, Brandenburg was placed in pretrial detention, where he remains as of this report’s publication.
The Berlin public prosector’s office claims that Brandenburg’s statements are defamatory assertions of fact rather than permissible political criticism or expressions of opinion.
Apparently Governing Mayor Wegner disputes Brandenburg’s characterizations. As Wegner apparently evaluates the matter, the fact that the State and City of Berlin—of which he is the supreme administrative authority—invited Parka to attend and even host events after Parka was convicted for dissemination, acquisition, and possession of child pornography does not mean that he is a fan of Jurassica Parka.
In a written response to journalist Alexander Wallasch on October 30, the Berlin prosecutor confirmed that Brandenburg was arrested at approximately 10:30 a.m. on October 28 pursuant to an arrest warrant issued by the Tiergarten District Court.
The prosecution claims that Dr. Brandenburg was arrested and put in jail (pretrial detention) on the grounds that he is a flight risk.
Dr. Brandenburg’s attorney, Markus Haintz, disputes the factual basis for describing his client as a fugitive.
Haintz states that Brandenburg was arrested while returning his ten-year-old child to Berlin and that he regularly travels to the city several times per month for family reasons. According to Haintz, both the Berlin police and prosecutors were aware of these visits.
Haintz and fellow defense attorney Viktoria Dannenmaier are seeking his release. Haintz characterizes the proceedings as a form of Majestätsbeleidigung (”insulting majesty”), suggesting that criminal law is being used to punish criticism of a political official.
German law expressly permits release on financial security (Kaution) or other conditions in place of pretrial detention. Section 116(1) of the German Code of Criminal Procedure (Strafprozessordnung, StPO) provides that a judge must suspend execution of an arrest warrant based solely on risk of flight when less restrictive measures can adequately achieve the purpose of detention.
Such measures include:
Posting financial security.
Reporting regularly to police or judicial authorities.
Remaining at a specified residence or within a designated geographical area.
Accepting restrictions on travel or movement.
The statutory language is important: when these less restrictive measures are sufficient, suspension of detention is mandatory, not merely discretionary.
The Berlin prosecutor claims that the fact that Brandenburg spends much of his time in Switzerland is evidence that he is essentially a fugitive, but this assertion is inconsistent with Brandenburg’s frequent and regular visits to Berlin. Thus, it is unclear why financial security, travel restrictions, or mandatory reporting would be inadequate to ensure Brandenburg’s appearance for a scheduled trial.
Section 112(1) StPO requires both strong suspicion of a criminal offense and a legally recognized ground for detention. It also prohibits detention that is disproportionate to the seriousness of the case and the expected punishment.
Several circumstances make Brandenburg’s detention especially worthy of scrutiny.
The six allegations concern statements published online rather than violence, threats of violence, or destruction of evidence.
Brandenburg’s reported regular returns to Berlin, particularly for family obligations, weigh against the assertion that he was hiding from authorities.
The existence of a foreign residence does not, by itself, establish that a defendant is evading prosecution.
If will be interesting to see if Governing Mayor Wegner will claim he had no knowledge of the investigations and convictions of Jurassica Parka in the years 2021-2025. Strangely enough, Berlin Police spokeswoman Lena Kniphals has stated that—at the time of the July 14, 2025 police gala of which Parka was the master of ceremonies and under investigation by the Berlin police that would raid his apartment ten days later— “Neither police leadership nor the participating partners possessed relevant knowledge or information [about the investigations and convictions] at the time of the event.”
On a historical note: the German Penal Code—of which “criminal insult” (Beleidigung) is paragraph § 185 —was passed on May 15, 1871, in the Reichstag and went into force on January 1, 1872.
Following the conventional customs, manners, and mores of the time, it was conceived as a judicial mechanism for punishing the act of making false public statements that injured a man’s honor. The rationale was to discourage the personal vendettas and duels that had been a feature of European society for centuries.
On the face of it, it strikes me as highly questionable that the Governing Mayor of Berlin’s honor was—as a matter of objective fact—injured by a few strongly worded X (formerly Twitter) posts from a dissident doctor.
If the Governing Mayor is so concerned about his honor, one wonders why he has presided over an administration that has consistently demonstrated not only extraordinary leniency, but also a celebratory posture towards Jurassica Parka—a man who posted images classified as child pornography on Twitter in November 24, 2021.
And Reiner Fullmich, still imprisoned...how far down the slide to hell we are!😱
Mallorca is well known in Franciscan circles. It was the launch point for the Franciscan movement into Mexico and California that resulted in the Missions that line the West Coast.