Arbon TG district court orders court eviction in Hefenhofen
Published: Friday, Sep 6th 2024, 11:10
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The district court of Arbon has ordered the eviction of a farmer and former horse breeder from Hefenhofen TG. He gained national notoriety in 2017 due to an animal welfare case.
The farmer who made the headlines for alleged cruelty to animals was ordered in Friday's official gazette to vacate and leave the property he lives in by September 16. This is under threat of eviction by the police and punishment for disobedience, according to the official gazette of the canton of Thurgau.
The decision is not legally binding. The farmer has ten days to lodge an appeal with the Thurgau High Court.
In December 2023, the debt enforcement office in the district of Arbon auctioned off the farmer's farm, including his house and pastureland, to the highest bidder, a vegetable farmer from Austria, for CHF 1.83 million due to uncovered outstanding debts. However, the former horse breeder refused to leave the farm.
The animal welfare case is pending in court
The Hefenhofen case reached its climax in 2017. Photos of massively neglected horses on the farm of the farmer, who had been in dispute with the authorities for years, circulated in the media. In the end, around 90 horses were confiscated and an animal husbandry ban was issued.
In March 2023, the farmer was brought before the Arbon District Court on charges including multiple counts of cruelty to animals. However, the court acquitted him of numerous charges. Most of the "evidence" presented by the authorities, with which the public prosecutor's office wanted to put the animal abuser with a criminal record behind bars for more than six years, could not be used, according to the ruling.
The public prosecutor's office appealed against this. The case is expected to be retried at the Thurgau High Court in October.
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