Pentobarbital can be used for lethal injection executions
Photo: TOMAS BRAVO / REUTERS
Three employees of a pharmaceutical company in Lower Saxony have to stand trial for the export of a drug suitable for executions.
The Higher Regional Court (OLG) Oldenburg followed a complaint by the public prosecutor's office against a rejection of the indictment by the Oldenburg regional court.
The case concerns the export of a veterinary medicinal product to the USA and Japan by a company with a branch in the Lower Saxony district of Cloppenburg.
The agent contains the active ingredient pentobarbital sodium, which is used as an anesthetic and is fatal in high doses.
It can be used for lethal injection executions.
The death penalty is carried out in both the United States and Japan.
In such cases, the export of corresponding drugs from the EU is regulated and only allowed with a special permit.
District court argued with a criminal liability loophole
According to the public prosecutor's office, such approval was not available in the indicted cases from 2017 and 2018.
When the regional court did not admit the indictment and the correction of the decision, it was about a so-called criminal liability loophole.
According to the regional court, there was such a loophole.
At the time of the offense, the relevant passage in the German Foreign Trade Act referred to a version of the EU anti-torture regulation that was no longer valid.
The reason for this was a delayed text adjustment.
In the view of the OLG, however, this does not matter because the will of the legislature to prevent the export of chemicals for executions is already clearly expressed in the law.
With the decision, the OLG had opened the indictment before the Chamber of Commerce of the Oldenburg Regional Court, there the proceedings would be continued, it said.
According to earlier statements, the accused are the managing director and two employees of the company.
hba / AFP
