Frankfurt/Main (dpa/lhe) – Due to procedural delays at the Frankfurt Regional Court, a total of six suspected criminals have been released from custody. These are suspects who are said to have tried to kill people. As the Frankfurt Higher Regional Court announced on Friday, citing several decisions, the arrest warrants had to be lifted because they were no longer compatible with the speed-up requirement in such proceedings. Some of the suspects had been in custody for almost twelve months.
In January of this year, the Frankfurt public prosecutor’s office brought charges in a case involving four suspects, who are said to have seriously injured two people together. The responsible jury chamber at the district court has so far neither opened nor terminated a main procedure due to overload. In two other criminal proceedings, each involving attempted manslaughter, two suspects were released from custody because the proceedings lasted too long.
The Hessian Minister of Justice Roman Poseck (CDU) regretted the delays in the proceedings. “This is a bad signal in our constitutional state, which should stand for consistent criminal prosecution,” he said.
