Frankfurt/Main (dpa/lhe) – They are said to have massively harassed several neighbors and denigrated them with criminal charges. For this, two spouses, now 69 years old, were sentenced to three years in prison by the Frankfurt Regional Court. The process ended last Friday after almost a year, the Frankfurt public prosecutor announced on Tuesday. Legally, the criminal court therefore assumed that a criminal offense had been faked and that the suspicion was false.

First, the couple’s apartment was searched because of various stalking allegations by the neighbors. In order to dismiss the suspicion, the accused have filed a number of criminal charges against the neighbors since 2016, including charges of physical harm. In order to prove the alleged mistreatment, the court held that the woman had bruised herself and even broken her nose. According to the verdict, however, the extensive evidence with numerous witnesses, some of whom were heard more than once, showed that all the allegations against the neighbors were unfounded.

The defendants had vigorously denied the allegations in court. The public prosecutor’s office did not disclose the background to the dispute. After the pronouncement of the verdict, which corresponded to the request of the prosecutors, the couple were arrested in the courtroom and taken into custody. The verdict is not yet legally binding.