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Federal Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann (FDP): “Further improve the high quality of criminal proceedings”
Photo: IMAGO / IMAGO/Political Moments
In the judiciary, there is growing resistance to Federal Justice Minister Marco Buschmann's (FDP) plan to digitally record court hearings in criminal proceedings.
In a recent statement, the German public prosecutors unanimously reject the draft bill from Buschmann's house.
This “does not solve a problem, but creates new ones”, and “there is no need for regulation”, says the paper.
If Buschmann has his way, it should not only be possible to participate in proceedings before civil and specialist courts more frequently than before via video transmission.
The ministry wants to build on the experience gained with the use of video technology during the corona pandemic.
"If you no longer have to travel from Hamburg to Munich to attend a court hearing, you save time and resources," says Buschmann.
"Appointments are easier to arrange because those involved can integrate a hearing or taking of evidence by video much more easily into their everyday life." This could also speed up court decisions.
Overdue reform?
Buschmann's draft bill "for a law on the digital documentation of the main criminal hearing" also provides for the main hearing to be recorded in future in image and sound form and for the sound recording to be converted into a text document using transcription software.
When the draft was published in November, the minister said that digital documentation of the main hearing at regional courts and higher regional courts was overdue.
He promises that the new regulation will "further improve the high quality of criminal proceedings."
"The proposed law is justified incorrectly, as a working aid for the judiciary, without anyone asking us beforehand," said Munich Attorney General Reinhard Röttle, explaining the prosecutors' concerns.
It is more of an “additional toolbox for criminal defense lawyers”.
Röttle fears, among other things, that witnesses will weaken or pre-filter their statements when the camera is running: "It is already difficult today to get people to testify in court because they are afraid of the accused or want to avoid the situation." the fact that recordings ended up on the Internet is significant, and the “huge pool of personal data” is also “susceptible to hacker attacks”.
Röttle: "That's the last thing we need for the criminal trial."
