Conviction for offences in connection with the attack on Halle synagogue attendees as a whole final and binding

Year of issue 2022
Date of issue 22.03.2022

Decision of 22 March 2022 (3 StR 270/21)

Naumburg Higher Regional Court sentenced the accused to imprisonment for life on two counts of murder under specific aggravating circumstances (Mord), multiple counts of attempted murder under specific aggravating circumstances and further crimes. It also determined the particular severity of the accused’s guilt and ordered that he be placed in preventive detention (Sicherungsverwahrung). Only two private accessory prosecutors (Nebenkläger) filed an appeal on points of law (Revision) against the judgment. The Third Criminal Panel of the Federal Court of Justice, which has jurisdiction for crimes against the state, dismissed these appeals.

According to the findings of Naumburg Higher Regional Court, the accused had engaged in an exchange of gunfire with five police officers after first having shot dead two people and having unsuccessfully attempted to kill 51 people in a synagogue as well as other individuals. One of the private accessory prosecutors was a bystander to the exchange of fire with the police. The Higher Regional Court did not establish that the accused had noticed the private accessory prosecutor standing on the pavement, that he had directly fired any shots at him or expected uninvolved parties to be injured or killed. It therefore did not convict the accused of any criminal offence against this private accessory prosecutor.

Further, while subsequently fleeing the scene the accused drove his car past a tram stop contrary to traffic regulations, hit the second private accessory prosecutor with the wing mirror as he was alighting from a tram and injured him. The Higher Regional Court did not establish that the accused had intentionally run into the injured party while executing this manoeuvre or had anticipated and accepted that he would cause any injury. It therefore only found the accused guilty of negligent bodily harm and road traffic offences committed in a single act.

The two private accessory prosecutors both complained that the accused had not also been convicted of their attempted murder. The review of the judgment occasioned by their appeals did not reveal any legal errors. As neither the accused nor another party to the proceedings filed an appeal on points of law, the Federal Court of Justice’s ruling means the judgment as a whole is final and binding.

Lower court
Naumburg Higher Regional Court – judgment of 21 December 2020 (1 St 1/20)

Karlsruhe, 12 April 2022