Corona rules: Can the police check contact restrictions in private apartments?
Created: 12/25/2021, 11:45 AM
From: Laura Wittstruck, Sophie Waldner
The inviolability of the apartment is even in the Basic Law - but what applies in Corona times?
© Marcel Kusch / dpa
Due to the increasing number of infections, there have been strict corona restrictions since the beginning of November.
Does this give the police more authority during controls?
With the second Corona wave in autumn 2020, there were again closings in the gastronomy and cultural scene and tightened contact restrictions *. Currently (as of April 7th, 2021),
relatives from
your
own household and people
from another household
are
allowed to meet nationwide
, but not more than five people. Children under the age of 14 are not counted and couples count as one household. It is also important to know that the so-called “emergency brake” comes into force as soon as the
7-day incidence in a federal state or region rises to over 100 on three consecutive days
.
Then only your own household and another person from another household are allowed to meet again.
Then children over 14 are counted again.
But who controls
compliance with these rules
?
After all, you keep hearing about so-called "corona parties".
Can the police
enter
the
apartment
in such a case
?
And is she entitled to check private rooms only on suspicion?
More on this:
Corona pandemic: What rights and obligations apply to households
?
Basic Law: Inviolability of the home
First of all, the following applies in Germany: Your own home is inviolable.
Article 13 of the Basic Law also specifies when and how an encroachment on the privacy of citizens is legally permitted.
This may only take place
“in the case of imminent danger”
,
i.e.
if, for example, human life is at risk or public safety and order.
However, this also expressly includes
“combating the risk of epidemics”.
The police cannot enter the apartment “just like that” to
carry out general checks
and, for example, to check how many people are there.
Also read:
Pensioner is stuck abroad for months because of Corona - now the landlord wants to throw her out of the apartment.
Can the police come into my apartment if they suspect something?
Henrik Eibenstein, a qualified lawyer, made the following comments to
Main-Post
: "The Federal Constitutional Court describes the scope of protection of Art. 13 GG in a fairly straightforward manner and puts it in the wording:
Individuals have the right to be left alone in their living quarters
".
Accordingly, it is up to the apartment owner whether to allow the police officer to enter the apartment, as the police will invade their privacy during a search.
Whether the officers have to search an apartment is a
case-
by-case decision .
“If the apartment owner refuses to enter or search the rooms, it is of course possible for the police to enforce this by force. The legal basis for this is not the Corona Protection Ordinance, but the Bavarian Police Task Act or the Code of Criminal Procedure, ”explains Eibenstein further. “However, the police here are not actually allowed to make a search out of what may be permitted entry - if they are then in the apartment. Opening doors, drawers, etc. is no longer part of entering. "
In order to search an apartment, a
judicial decision is
necessary
according to the Basic Law
- this is only given if it is absolutely necessary to clear up the regulatory offense, as n-tv quotes the lawyer Lea Voigt, chairwoman of the hazard prevention law committee in the German Bar Association .
Arbitrary, spontaneous controls
are therefore
excluded
. If Voigt has its way, the police do not need to allow any further freedoms in this area. A weakening of the right to inviolability of the home is extremely problematic and unnecessary.
(lw) * Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA.
You can also read:
"Corona Lockdown": Do I have to wear a mask on the stairwell of the apartment building?
"Undeveloped location" and "well preserved": that is what real estate codes mean
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