Images of abuse

Former theater director Pekny receives suspended sentence

For retrieving child and youth pornographic content from the Internet, former theater director Thomas Pekny was given a suspended sentence on Thursday. He must also pay 5000 euros to the Munich Child Protection Association.

The files - more than 100 - had been found on Pekny's cell phone due to other investigations. Surprisingly, the defendant did not show up for the trial on Thursday. "He is anything but well," his defense lawyers said in court. As there were "doubts about the feasibility of the main trial for some time", a judge at the Munich district court announced that the case would be switched to summary penalty order proceedings.

Allegations of sexual abuse
It was not the first trial against the former theater director, who comes from Linz. At the end of July 2021, he was acquitted of allegations of sexual abuse of women due to a lack of evidence. The court ruled at the time that the crime could not be proven. Pekny had always denied the allegations, but resigned as head of the theater after the trial.

On Thursday, he was given a suspended sentence of eight months for accessing child and youth pornographic content. After his resignation, Pekny continued to work as a stage designer for the Bayerischer Hof for a while. However, his successor as artistic director no longer wants to work with him in future.