On December 23rd, one day before Christmas Eve, at 2:45 p.m. the Baden-Baden district court heard the defendant Franz Burda cleared of rape charges. The main hearing lasted four days. The professional judge and the two lay judges now find that it was “ultimately impossible to determine” what happened on that summer evening in 2023. There were too many contradictions in the victim witness’s statement for a conviction to be based on these statements. It’s still a case of statement against statement.