Der Staatsanwalt hat das Wort: Gefährliche Freundschaft (1982)

After years of living alone with her son Mario and raising him by herself, Renate has a new man in her life: Rainer. Conflicts arise between Mario and Rainer. Until now, Mario’s mother has been the center of his life, and the same has been true for her. Mario cannot come to terms with the new situation. On top of that, he is dealing with the problems of first love. Mario is attracted to Anke, who is also not averse to Ralf. Ralf is the son of Jutta, one of Renate’s coworkers. After her divorce, Jutta too spent a long time living alone with her son. The relationship between Jutta and Ralf, however, has broken down; Ralf has already moved out of his mother’s home and is living in a garden shed. Mario and Ralf know each other, and Mario does not really think much of him. Ralf has also gone off the rails and, as the leader of a gang of three that includes Tommi Fischer and Harry Wolf, has made a specialty of stealing parts and accessories from mopeds, motorcycles, and cars. The vehicles are often damaged in the process. Tommi, however, wants to leave the gang. Ralf forces him to keep taking part by threatening to “turn him in.” Harry, the youngest of them all, is still so immature that he is almost blindly obedient to Ralf. In the midst of his emotional crisis, Mario seeks out Ralf and his gang. Ralf sees an opportunity to replace Tommi with Mario in the medium term and persuades him to act as a lookout on one of their next thefts. Mario readily agrees. Tommi, too, sees what is happening and warns Mario not to get involved with Ralf. But Mario takes part in the next theft as a lookout at the corner. In the meantime, Ralf’s mother, who had suspected more than she knew about her son’s illegal activities, has reached the point where she sees reporting him to the police as the only way out. The police eventually catch Ralf, Tommi, and Harry in the act. Mario initially manages to escape. However, he runs into his mother and her boyfriend near the crime scene. The next morning, he goes with them to the People’s Police and makes a detailed confession. Mario Reinhard had made himself an accomplice to the theft of personal property. In his case, in view of the consequences and the relatively minor degree of culpability, the prosecutor made use of the option available under GDR criminal law to refer the case to a “social court,” namely the competent arbitration commission. The arbitration commission reprimanded Mario Reinhard and also required him to speak to his class about his offense. All the other participants in the crimes had to stand trial for aggravated theft: a total of 43 thefts, with goods worth more than 12,000 East German marks, were proven against them. There was also the property damage they caused by removing parts from the vehicles. Ralf Warnke was sentenced to three years and six months in prison for aggravated theft of personal property, intentional property damage, and coercion. Tommi Fischer was sentenced to two years and three months in prison for aggravated theft of personal property and property damage. Harry Wolf was sentenced to two years in prison for aggravated theft of personal property and property damage. All the defendants were also ordered to pay compensation for the damage they had caused.