"Otherwise processes threaten to burst"

Hamburg is campaigning within the federal government for an extension of the deadlines for corona-related process interruptions.

"Otherwise processes threaten to burst"

Hamburg is campaigning within the federal government for an extension of the deadlines for corona-related process interruptions. Otherwise, processes in the Hanseatic city threatened to burst, said Justice Senator Anna Gallina (Greens). This could also affect proceedings in which the accused are in custody.

“Corona continues to endanger the conduct of main criminal hearings. If the negotiations cannot be continued for a longer period of time, there is a risk that the permitted interruption periods will be exceeded," said the senator. "The Federal Minister of Justice must therefore reintroduce the exception that has now expired."

According to the Code of Criminal Procedure, an ongoing main hearing must start all over again if the deadline is exceeded. Because of the pandemic, an exemption was created in 2020 that allowed main hearings to be interrupted for up to three months and ten days if they could not take place due to infection control measures. The new Federal Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann (FDP) had extended the exemption, which was originally supposed to expire in March, until the end of June.

The Hamburg courts also consider an extension to be “urgently necessary,” said court spokeswoman Anne Voscherau-Schmidt. The exception rule has been used in a large number of cases, for example at the regional court. “The restart of criminal proceedings is not only associated with considerable costs and additional workload. It also runs counter to the speeding up requirement, which is particularly important in criminal proceedings, and is accompanied by considerable, stressful consequences for those involved in the proceedings – for example through the need to question witnesses again.”

In addition, the exceptional regulation offers the courts the opportunity to react flexibly to the dynamic development of the infection process and to ensure the progress of criminal justice even during the pandemic, explained Voscherau-Schmidt.