The Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe made this decision after considering the possible consequences, as it explained on Saturday. It is about the murder of Frederike von Möhlmann. The 17-year-old was raped and killed in 1981 after a choir rehearsal. The suspect was already a suspect at the time. However, he was acquitted in 1983.
Frederike’s father, Hans von Möhlmann, then fought for many years to have the proceedings reopened. In 2012, a molecular genetic report revealed that a trace of DNA on the clothing of those killed could have come from the suspect. With the help of an online petition signed by tens of thousands of people, the father now urged that the criminal law should be changed. At the end of last year, after many political discussions, a change in the law actually came into force – since then, proceedings against a person who has already been acquitted by final judgment can be resumed in Germany if new evidence makes it very likely that he or she was convicted of murder, genocide, war crimes or crimes against humanity would be sentenced.
The regulation is controversial because the Basic Law prohibits punishing someone more than once for the same crime. However, the Verden district court had no constitutional concerns: in February, at the request of the public prosecutor, it ordered that the proceedings be resumed. The suspect was taken into custody as a risk of absconding. The Celle Higher Regional Court rejected an appeal.
He then filed a constitutional complaint to have the resumption of his proceedings reviewed in Karlsruhe according to the new regulation. At the same time, he applied in summary proceedings to temporarily suspend the arrest warrant. He was partially successful with that. The release from custody was issued with the conditions that the man was not allowed to leave his place of residence, had to report to the public prosecutor’s office twice a week and had to give his identification documents to the court files.
However, the judges of the Second Senate were by no means unanimous in their decision. It came out with five to three votes, as announced by the Federal Constitutional Court.
Source: Nachrichten
