Despite many unprocessed procedures

The public prosecutor's office accused the former magistrate that he wanted to spare himself work: in a process for legal diffraction, the district court of Rostock acquitted the accused.

The Chamber did not consider it proven that the accused lawyer purposely did not process a total of 816 administrative offenses at the Güstrow district court between 2013 and 2015 until they were dismissed for prescription. The public prosecutor's office was unable to assert its claim for a one-and-a-half-year suspended sentence.

The 58-year-old defendant, who was retired in 2018 due to illness, testified that he could not handle the workload he expected. His defender therefore demanded an acquittal.

Employer would have had to remedy the situation

The defendant, because of his limited individual abilities and mental illness, was unable to handle the workload of cases he required, court judges said. Objectively, the man has indeed fulfilled the facts of the law.

The lawyer had, according to the Chamber, regularly sorted out procedures without a detailed examination of the file just before the statute of limitations, because he felt that he had no capacity for it. Shortly after the statute of limitations six months after receipt by the court he closed the proceedings.

There is no evidence that the accused was unwilling to work, the judges found. However, the defendant was subjectively not able to do the stint.

The mental illness that has existed since 2008 has been confirmed by the medical profession. The employer was aware of the situation of the magistrate, stated the Rostock judges. In numerous letters to the superior district court as well as to the Ministry of Justice in Schwerin the judge had indicated his overload. The state of health was also known to the superiors. Therefore, it was also on the employer to remedy.