In Germany last September, the country’s Ministry of Justice drafted a law to protect religious circumcision for Jews and Muslims after a Cologne district court ruled that this ritual deprives a child of his right to self-determination and inflicts “bodily harm” and “assault.” The proposal passed Germany’s Bundestag by an overwhelming majority in December after heated public debate, and was seen as a victory for Germany as a tolerant multiethnic society. The new law affirms the legality of religious circumcision but requires that circumcision be carried out with the highest medical standards.

Bahls, who heads an organization for victims of sexual abuse, says he filed his criminal complaint against Teichtal precisely because these standards had been violated.

In Germany, citizens may file public suits against individuals whom they believe committed crimes. The Berlin state prosecutor is still evaluating Bahls’s criminal suit.

Meanwhile, Bahls has posted an explanation of his suit on his website, in English, German, French, Hebrew and Russian.

“I’d like to make one thing very clear right up front: This lawsuit is not driven by any anti-Jewish resentments, but by the strong belief that all children bear the same inalienable rights,” Bahls’s website announces.

The anti-abuse activist also stresses that his complaint is not aimed at religious circumcision in general. “That is an issue for an internal debate among the Jewish people,” he writes. “I also disapprove of any misuse of my efforts… by people that use the issue of circumcision to fuel their discriminating thoughts against minorities.”

Instead, Bahls writes: “My aim is to shed some light on the circumstances of this particular circumcision. It clearly shows that some people are unwilling to abide [by] at least the minimum standards set forth by law, for example just obeying the rules for proper medical treatment.”