A planned reform of criminal proceedings is encountering resistance from survivors of terrorist victims.
The relatives of the victims of the attack from the Berlin Breitscheidplatz warn, thereby the rights of those affected would be "massively" restricted. This is stated in a letter from the victim families to the Chancellor's Office, which is available to SPIEGEL.
Background of the protest letter is a project of the Federal Government, according to which the number of co-plaintiff representatives should be limited in future in court proceedings. According to a bill of the Federal Ministry of Justice, a common lawyer should be able to be appointed for several victims with "rectified interests".
In doing so, the government is responding to mammoth procedures such as the NSU trial with almost 60 adjournment lawyers or the Loveparade trial. He is being negotiated because of the many participants in the Düsseldorf Congress Center.
Bill criticized as "retrograde"
The relatives of the victims of the attack at Breitscheidplatz are extremely skeptical about the plans. "An acceleration of the main proceedings is certainly desirable in many cases, but must not lead to the rights of those affected being curtailed," it says in its letter to the Chancellery. Victim protection includes the ability to assert claims "freely and through a lawyer of their own choice".
Previously, Roland Weber, victim representative of the state of Berlin, had criticized the project of the grand coalition as "retrograde". Major processes with several dozen subsidiary plaintiffs are the exception, Weber told SPIEGEL: "The functioning of the courts is not in danger."
Also the terror victims representative of the Federal Government, Edgar Franke (SPD), warned recently before the reform plans. A "victim-lawyer at state expense is one of the most important rights of victims in criminal proceedings," he wrote to the Ministry of Justice run by his party colleague Christine Lambrecht. "A regulation restricting this right should therefore be viewed critically."
The Federal Cabinet approved the bill at the end of October anyway. Now the Bundestag has to decide.