Federal Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann (FDP) cannot count on the support of the state ministers of justice for his plan to document criminal trials in sound and image. The Association of Judges had already expressed itself very critically. The interest group fears that the personal rights of the parties to the proceedings could be violated, points to risks of abuse and an imminent additional burden on the judiciary.

Helene Bubrowski

Political correspondent in Berlin.

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Now, statements obtained by the F.A.Z. show that there are also strong concerns about the draft law presented by the Federal Ministry of Justice in November across party lines. The traffic light parties have agreed in the coalition agreement that the main hearing should be recorded in the future.

Lower Saxony's Minister of Justice Kathrin Wahlmann (SPD) writes in her statement: "The proposed documentation is neither an added value for the criminal court trial in general, nor for the parties to the proceedings and / or the finding of truth in particular." This corresponds to the view of the judges and prosecutors in their federal state.

Even criticism comes from the FDP

Roman Poseck (CDU), Hessian Minister of Justice, puts it even more clearly: "Seldom has a draft law met with such unanimous and vehement rejection by all the bodies involved. The negative assessment of the practice is fully shared here." The Green-led Ministry of Justice of Thuringia also considers the plans to be excessive and it is "urgently appropriate to refrain from the project".

Even from the FDP-led Ministry of Justice of Rhineland-Palatinate comes criticism of Buschmann's plans: "It is rightly pointed out by judicial practice that the planned imposition of a documentation obligation in its current form (...) The aim is diametrically opposed to streamlining rules of procedure in order to relieve the courts and to shorten the proceedings in Germany (...), which are often too long."

Sven Rebehn, federal managing director of the Richterbund, told the F.A.Z. that Buschmann was "well advised to take up the unanimously and vehemently expressed concerns and to fundamentally reconsider the project."