Constitutional courts that become political footballs?

Why, what a novel concept.

Good thing that can’t happen here.

Germany’s Constitutional Court becomes political football – The Bundestag was supposed to elect three new judges to Germany’s highest court. But the vote was canceled due to a dispute over one of the candidates. It is unclear what will happen next.

A few hours before the planned vote, the CDU demanded that the SPD withdraw Brosius-Gersdorf’s nomination, citing new allegations that she might have plagiarized her PhD dissertation in 1997, which left-wing politicians see as spurious…

“This judge is unacceptable.”

Let’s Make A Deal

A deal you can’t refuse.

Five Germans handed jail sentence for Green Vault jewel heist. But these slaps on the wrist aren’t the story.

A part of the loot had been handed over to to a lawyer’s office. In return, the clan members received lighter sentences. The deal had previously been arranged through the defense, a capitulation to the clan criminals before the rule of law.

And the “six German men” handed jail sentences? They weren’t of the Michael and Johannes type. They were of the Lebanese Remmo Clan variety. You know, Corleone style.

Repeat An Election?

What do they mean by repeating an election? I thought that once you get the results you want it’s a done deal. Repeating an election due to election day glitches simply isn’t possible. Not in my country it isn’t.

Judge: Berlin will likely need to repeat its 2021 election – The president of the Berlin Constitutional Court says Germany’s capital will likely need to repeat its 2021 state and district elections due to severe election day glitches.

Long lines formed outside many polling stations in Berlin that day as voters struggled with extra ballot papers. Some polling stations ran out of ballot papers during the day and others received ones for the wrong district, leading to a large number of invalidated ballots. Another issue was the election was supposed to end at 6 p.m., but voters waiting in line at that time were allowed to cast their ballots.

Not Just The Italian Mafia

Any kind of international crime organization you want sees Germany’s justice system as a joke.

Mafia

Italian mafia sees German justice system as ‘a joke’ – The Italian mafia has hundreds of members in Germany pulling strings in the international drug trade. The latest major trial shows how lengthy legal procedures and lenient verdicts are no match for organized crime.

“Our prosecution system is a joke for mafia groups. In the mafia, they price this in — they expect to face trials and even convictions. But the penalties threatened in Germany are laughably mild. They’re not a deterrent. The mafia isn’t bothered by them.”

Nobody Escapes From A German Jail

Because nobody wants to.

Jail

It’s like a nice hotel stay and they’ll kick you out long before your sentence is over anyway. We’ll be hearing from this guy soon again, I’m sure.

Medellín cartel co-founder transferred to Germany after prison sentence – Carlos Lehder Rivas ran Medellín cartel alongside Pablo Escobar that smuggled cocaine worth billions to the US in 1970s and 80s.

“Incomprehensible” And “Meaningless”

Are the previous court decisions ruling that the European Court of Justice can have primacy over national law in Germany. It’s also “incomprehensible” that it took so long for everybody to figure this out. I sure hope that this latest ruling won’t be ruled out as “meaningless” later but I’ve had my hopes dashed before.

Judge

Germany’s constitutional court sent shockwaves through Europe last week by ruling that the German government and the EU’s top judges failed to properly scrutinise the European Central Bank’s bond-buying programme.

The judgment threatens to turn the European Commission against Germany, the EU’s biggest member state. It raises doubts over the primacy of the European Court of Justice over national law. It also risks driving a wedge between the ECB and its biggest shareholder, the Bundesbank.

Germany’s highest court dismissed an earlier ECJ ruling in ECB’s favour as “incomprehensible” and “meaningless”. That bombshell decision opened the door to potential legal challenges against the EU from other countries, such as Poland and Hungary, whose authoritarian governments are already at odds with Brussels.

Fifteen Years!

Fifteen years? That’s what a “life sentence” in Germany means.

Crime

In other words, in Germany you get away with murder when convicted of murder.

A failed Iraqi asylum seeker has been handed life in prison for the rape and murder of a 14-year-old German girl.

Ali Bashar, 22, had admitted in court in Wiesbaden that he strangled Susanna Feldman on 23 May 2018, but claimed he did not know how it happened…

Susanna’s mother, Diana, said that “part of my future and my heart disappeared” when her daughter died. “I have already received life imprisonment, although I am not guilty. I will never get a chance for a pardon.”

Another Fifteen Years?

Whoah. This is getting heavy.

Life

German nurse who killed up to 100 patients faces another life sentence.

Thanks for the fake news there, CNN. There is no life sentence in Germany. They may call it that but that just means fifteen years. Just saying.

German prosecutors in the northwest city of Oldenburg are seeking a life sentence for Niels Hoegel, a former male nurse who is considered Germany’s deadliest postwar serial killer after allegedly killing as many as 100 patients…

Hoegel is accused of giving his victims various non-prescribed drugs, in an attempt to show off his resuscitation skills to colleagues and fight off boredom.

Not Paying Him Would Have Been Inhumane

German prosecutors have launched an investigation into why a Moroccan man convicted of assisting the 9/11 suicide plotters was allowed to leave Germany with an envelope containing €7,000 in cash.

Terrorist

Well, on the one hand… It is forbidden to pay the money from a “prisons account” to terrorists or terror suspects because their assets are meant to be frozen and inaccessible.

But on the other hand, dumping this poor mass murder accomplice off in Casablanca without any cash in his pocket would have been just plain cruel and unusual.

Motassadeq war Mitglied der sogenannten Hamburger Zelle um den Todespiloten Mohammed Atta, der 2001 eines der Flugzeuge in das World Trade Center in New York gesteuert hatte.