Germany / Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof) / AK 58/17 ECLI:DE:BGH:2017:291117BAK58.17.0

Country

Germany

Title

Germany / Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof) / AK 58/17 ECLI:DE:BGH:2017:291117BAK58.17.0

View full Case

Year

2017

Decision/ruling/judgment date

Wednesday, November 29, 2017

Incident(s) concerned/related

Incitement to violence or hatred

Related Bias motivation

Migrant status
Race/Ethnicity

Groups affected

Refugees & asylum seekers

Court/Body type

National Court

Court/Body

Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof)

Key facts of the case

A lieutenant general of the German Armed Forces - after having obtained various weapons - reported himself to the authorities under a false name as a refugee from Syria and went through the asylum procedure in Germany. He was accused of planning attacks on high-ranking politicians and other - from his point of view "refugee friendly" - persons under his false Syrian identity to cast suspicion on asylum seekers out of a xenophobic motivation and was arrested in April 2017.

Main reasoning/argumentation

The Court repealed the arrest warrant because it denied an urgent suspicion of the preparation of state threatening crimes. The Court held that there were too many contradictions in the investigation procedure, and found it unlikely that the defendant had actually prepared an assassination attempt on a public figure in the accused manner. The sentence of the other accused offences would not justify pre-trial detention.

Is the case related to the application of the Framework Decision on Racism and Xenophobia, the Racial Equality Directive?

Key issues (concepts, interpretations) clarified by the case

The Federal Supreme Court had to decide whether there was an urgent suspicion regarding the preparation of a serious act of violence that posed a threat to the state and whether the accused therefore had to remain in pre-trial detention.

Results (sanctions, outcome) and key consequences or implications of the case

The warrant was repealed.

Key quotation in original language and its unofficial translation into English with reference details

"Hinsichtlich dieses Tatvorwurfes besteht nach dem derzeitigen Stand der Ermittlungen kein dringender Tatverdacht. […] Soweit der Haftbefehl vom 24. Oktober 2017 weiterhin davon ausgeht, der Beschuldigte habe den Verdacht nach der Begehung der schweren staatsgefährdenden Gewalttat auf die in Deutschland lebenden Flüchtlinge lenken wollen, ist nicht dargetan, auf welche Weise dies habe geschehen sollen. "

"As far as this allegation is concerned, there is no urgent suspicion at this stage of the investigation. […] To the extent that the arrest warrant of 24 October 2017 still assumes that the accused wanted to direct the suspicion to refugees living in Germany [...], it has not been shown how this should have been done."

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