The administrative tribunal came to the conclusion that the man's appeal was justified.
The disagreement was triggered by Etienne Schneider's decision to penalise the officer with an enforced retirement, by reasons of professional incompetence and moral incapacity. Instead, the man is now to be suspended without pay for six months. Both officer and the state will jointly be in charge of covering the fees 50/50.
In February 2013, the Director-General of the police had sent the then commissioner to a different intervention centre while they awaited the outcome of a legal inquiry. The Director-General then asked the regional director in October to open a disciplinary investigation against the officer in question. In 2014, the Court of Appeals acquitted the officer of obstruction of justice in the case of an Esch hotelier.
The officer received the results of the disciplinary hearing in 2017: the regional director had sent over the report and showed him his observations a few days later. In November 2017, the Director-General approached the disciplinary board of law enforcement, who in 2018 had decided that the officer should be forced into early retirement. The former Minister of Internal Security then implemented this decision in June last year. The officer appealed this sanction in July 2018.
The First Judges' verdict stipulated that final punishments need to refer to both the gravity of the mistake as well as the civil servant's history. The officer's behaviour in the case of an Esch cabaret had indeed been detrimental to the public perception of the police corps, and demonstrated a serious violation of his duties as an officer. As such, the mandatory pension had, a priori, been a fitting response. The overstepping of a "reasonable time-period" did not, however, require such a heavy penalty.
The decision decreed the officer to be suspended for six months without pay.
