Germans Must Reopen Student Death Case - Family

News.Scotsman.com/February 25, 2004
By Helen William

The family of a British student who died mysteriously after allegedly becoming involved with a mysterious right-wing cult in Germany met the Government today to demand help in investigating his death.

Erica and Hugo Duggan want the Foreign Office to put pressure on the German authorities to reopen the investigation into their son Jeremiah's death in March 2003.

The family, from Golders Green, north London, believes that the Schiller Institute, which is led by Lyndon La Rouche, an American right wing conspiracy theorist, might hold the key.

Dr William Dolman, the north London coroner, has already rejected a German police claim that 22-year-old Mr Duggan, who died after being hit by two cars on a dual carriageway outside Wiesbaden, had committed suicide.

Mrs Duggan said: "Following the British inquest verdict that it was not suicide and which did not rule out foul play, we are hopeful that the Foreign Office will support us and intervene on our behalf to get the truth of our son's death.

"It has been a hard 11 months since he died and people from all over the world have been telling us about their fears.

"We really do expect the German authorities, who have laws against incitement to hatred, to act speedily. We all have cause to be frightened of the growing extremism in Europe today."

Mr Duggan wants German officials to reverse their decision to close the case.

He said: "The British Coroner, as a representative of the British State, contradicted the German findings. We would therefore expect the Government to bring political pressure on the German authorities to ensure the circumstances of Jeremiah's death are found."

Mr and Mrs Duggan were meeting the Foreign Office's head of consular services.

Their MP, Rudi Vis, who serves Finchley and Golders Green, promised: "If we do not succeed or have insufficient success today then I will find colleagues, both in the Commons and the Lords, to put an enormous amount of pressure both on the Foreign Office and the Government to investigate this."