Regional Court of Itzehoe, 18th August 2021
3 KLs 315 Js 15865/16 Hw

Order

In the criminal proceedings against
Irmgard F.
on suspicion of aiding murder

File number: 3 KLs 315 Js 15865/16 Hw

On Thursday 30.09.2021 at 10:00 a.m., the trial against the accused Irmgard F. will begin in the courtroom on the 1st floor of building N, China Logistic Center, Vossbarg 1, 25524 Itzehoe, to be heard by the 3rd Grand Juvenile Court Chamber of the Regional Court of Itzehoe.

Up to now, 27 hearing days until 07.06.2022 have been set.

Insofar as the generic masculine is used for general personal nouns in this Order, all genders are referred to.

Due to the considerable public interest that is expected, I hereby order the following to ensure that the trial days proceed in an orderly manner:

I. Courtroom, members of the public

1. The hearing will take place in the courtroom on the 1st floor of building N, China Logistic Center, Vossbarg 1, 25524 Itzehoe. The attached court agenda will be referred to. Any - subsequent - changes will be announced on notices in good time.

2. The sessions each begin - with the exception of 30.09.2021 (10:00 a.m. start) - at 9:00 a.m., as long as nothing to the contrary is ordered in an individual case. Changes will be announced on notices in good time.

3. In principle, the sessions are public (Section 169 Sentence 1 GVG [Courts Constitution Act]).

4. Under consideration of the relevant provisions in the context of the Corona pandemic, including those applicable in the future, and under consideration of the distancing instructions and hygiene rules in the light of the Corona pandemic and an evaluation from the medical viewpoint, attendan ce by persons not directly involved in the proceedings, especially the press and the public, may be subject to restrictions, including at short notice.

II. Journalist authorisation

1. Half of the seats intended for the public shall be available for accredited journalists. In the event that the total number of seats for spectators is an uneven number, half the seats minus one seat shall be available to accredited journalists. As things stand today, it is already possible to foresee that, due to the distancing instructions, the number of places available for spectators will be significantly lower than the number of spectator places in “pre-Corona times”. Due to the dynamic nature of the pandemic, a specific number of available places will not be announced at this point in time.
All representatives of the media, photographers and camera teams who are interested in attending the trial are asked to apply via e-mail, by sending a valid press ID or the ID of a radio or television station as per press legislation and/or a letter of reference (employment or contract confirmation) from a company such as this, or other proof of their journalistic work, to the Press Office of the Regional Court of Itzehoe at

akkreditierung@lg-itzehoe.landsh.de

in order to gain accreditation for “Stutthof”.

Accreditation applications received in any other way cannot be considered and will also not be forwarded.

The accreditation period begins on
Monday, 06.09.2021 at 12:00 noon (CEST) and ends on
Wednesday, 08.09.2021 at 12:00 noon (CEST).

Accreditation applications that are received before the start or after the end of the period cannot be considered.

2. Approved representatives of the media, photographers and camera teams will receive an accreditation ID with the name of the person and the name of the media represented. Accredited journalists must wear their accreditation IDs visibly on trial days. The IDs must be shown to court officers when requested.

3. The Press Office of the Regional Court of Itzehoe is responsible for carrying out the accreditation process.


III. Press, radio and television reporting

1. Audio and film recordings and photographs are only permitted 15 minutes before the scheduled start of each session in the designated area of the courtroom and they may only be made by accredited photographers and camera teams. Recordings in the designated area of the courtroom must be ended when the case is called. Outside of this area – and in the spectator room in particular – no audio or film recordings or photographs may be made, with the exception of a specially designated zone in the access road area behind the turnstiles. Here, accredited representatives of the press who are not part of the media pools specified in Point III. 2. may also take photos.

2. Four media pools will be created:

a) From the accredited television representatives, two people each with one camera (one public service broadcasting station and one private broadcasting station) will be authorised as pool managers.

b) From the accredited press agencies, one agency with one photographer will be authorised as the pool manager.

c) From the accredited freelance photographers, one photographer will be authorised as the pool manager.

3. If more film teams and/or photographers than there are places in the relevant media pool register, the willingness to take on the pool management as declared in the accreditation application is the requirement for authorisation.

4. The pool managers must undertake in writing to send the visual material to their competitors or make it available to them on request.

5. The pool manager shall be appointed by agreement of the interested press bodies/television stations. The individual arrangements are the responsibility of the interested stations, editorial departments, agencies and journalists. If a solution cannot be mutually agreed, the presiding judge shall make the choice.

6. Instructions from the staff of the Press Office and from the court officer must be followed when positioning the cameras and during recording. Going behind the judges’ bench or filming files are not permitted.

7. Consent shall not be given for image and audio recordings of the panel of judges and the recording clerk outside of the courtroom.

8. Audio and film recordings and photographs are forbidden during all the sessions (Section 169 Sentence 2 GVG).


IV.

To ensure the security of the accused and the other parties to the proceedings and to ensure that the trial is carried out without interruptions, the following orders shall be in force as per Section 176 GVG:

1. All persons who have access to the courtroom are forbidden to carry weapons and objects that are suitable for interrupting the trial in the courtroom.

2. Defence lawyers, counsel for private accessory prosecutors, private accessory prosecutors, experts and interpreters are permitted to bring bags and laptops/tablets as well as mobile phones into the courtroom.

3. The accredited representatives of the media, photographers and camera teams must prove their identity by means of a valid, official ID or passport and an accreditation ID.

4. Representatives of the media may take laptops/tablets into the courtroom as long as space allows. They may be used in offline mode only. Bringing laptops/tablets with mobile routers and bringing separate routers is not permitted. Taking photographs and recording film with these devices is also not permitted. Making telephone calls is not permitted in the courtroom. Mobile telephones must be switched off in the courtroom.

5. Barriers and screens may be set up outside the courtroom to ensure that the recoding ban is complied with and to ensure order in front of the courtroom. Within this security zone, that will be marked as such, neither audio and film recordings and photographs are permitted, nor interviews. Orders from the employees of the judiciary and the police officers called upon to provide support must be complied with.


V.

1. Spectators and representatives of the media/journalists shall be admitted to the opened courtroom 30 minutes before the start of each session.

2. The reserved seats that are each marked as such are allocated in the order of arrival as follows:

- First priority is given to accredited journalists who are in attendance
- Second priority is given to representatives of the media in accordance with V. 4.
- Lastly come other spectators

3. Spectators shall be admitted in the order in which they arrived in front of the courtroom. Only the number of spectators for whom seats for spectators are available shall be admitted. One seat shall not be taken up by two spectators. Seats that become free are immediately to be made available to other spectators who are seeking admission. Representatives of the media who have not found a seat in the area reserved for them will be admitted in the same way as spectators.

4. If they can adequately prove their journalistic work (e.g. by presenting a valid press ID or the ID of a radio or television station as per press legislation and/or a letter of reference), representatives of the media without accreditation can be admitted into the area reserved for the representatives of the media if fewer accredited representatives of the media seek admission than there are available places. The presiding judge shall decide in cases of doubt.

5. Spectators can be admitted to the area reserved for the representatives of the media if, 5 minutes before the start of the trial, fewer representatives of the media have sought admission than there are available places. This does not apply to the separate media room.

6. The spectators and representatives of the media/journalists must leave the courtroom during ordered recesses of more than 15 minutes and at the end of the session. If they take their seat again immediately after the recess, they do not lose their right to it.

7. A seat that becomes free can be reallocated. Reservations of any kind are not permitted.

8. People who have not found a seat must leave the courtroom before the session begins.


VI. Power to maintain order during the hearing

1. Maintaining order during the hearing (power to maintain order) is the responsibility of the presiding judge. Their orders must be complied with (Sections 176, 177 GVG).
Their powers cover,
ｉ in terms of location, the courtroom and the spaces in front of the courtroom, i.e. also including the approach to the courtroom,
ｉ in terms of time, the session, which also includes the recesses during which the chamber remains at the location of the court, as well as the time periods before and after the session in which the parties or spectators arrive and leave and
ｉ in terms of persons, all persons who are in the aforementioned areas during the specified times.

2. Within this framework related to location, time and persons described above, the judge’s power of maintaining order shall supersede the domiciliary rights.

3. In all other respects, the house rules of the Regional Court of Itzehoe shall apply.

4. The domiciliary rights are exercised by
President of the Regional Court
Dr. Bernhard Flor
Telephone number: 04821-66-1001 (office)

5. This order will be published on the website of the Regional Court of Itzehoe. After this, it will be sent as an e-mail attachment to representatives of the media who are on the e-mail distribution lists of the Press Office of the Regional Court of Itzehoe.


VII.

In cases of doubt or when a party to the proceedings or spectator claims that enforcement of the ordered measures infringes upon their rights, the decision of the presiding judge shall be sought.

Grounds:

I.
The orders given are designed to maintain order in the hearing (Section 176 GVG). They are required to ensure that the proceedings run without interruptions. In particular, the orders ensure the security of the accused and the other parties to the proceedings.


II.
Due to the current threat caused by the novel coronavirus CoV-2 pandemic, which, in a not insignificant number of cases, causes the potentially lethal Covid19 disease, protecting the health of the parties to the proceedings, the spectators and, indirectly, the entire population is, due to the increasing risk of infection, of extreme importance, and this is also a significant factor in considerations concerning the important principle of the public nature of the proceedings (§ 169 GVG).
The Robert Koch Institute as Germany’s federal supervisory authority for infectious and non-infectious diseases calls for keeping a distance of a minimum of 1.5 m from other people and foregoing close interaction between people, as well as compliance with basic hygiene rules (see recommendations from the RKI, as of 13.05.2020). The currently valid Corona control order of the state of Schleswig-Holstein (version dated 25.7.2021) also requires a minimum distance of 1.5 m to be complied with. It can currently be assumed that the protective measures ordered here are suitable for protecting against infection and, according to current virological findings, are effective, and they therefore provide for the basic right of the parties and the public to life and physical integrity as per Article 2 Paragraph 2 Sentence 1 GG [Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany] (see 2 BvR 671/20). Public access must be organised in accordance with health requirements (see BGH St [Federal Supreme Court decision in penal cases] 21, page 72 ff, >73<).

III.
To protect the interests of the public and to protect the freedom of the press and the freedom of broadcast, orders have been issued that govern the conditions for reporting from the courtroom, in compliance with the principles laid down in § 169 GVG.

To maintain order in each session, it is the responsibility of the presiding judge (§ 176 GVG) to issue more detailed rules concerning admittance to the courtroom and the conduct within it and thus also to organise the distribution of the short supply of seats to journalists (BVG NJW 2003, 500, beck-online), whereby the presiding judge has a large scope for discretion when deciding on the allocation of the reserved places (see BVerfG [Federal Constitutional Court] NJW 2013, 1293, BVerfG BeckRS 2013, 50235 and BVerfG BeckRS 2014, 49615). Insofar as admittance for representatives of the media is limited by the Security Order, the orders are based on the following discretionary considerations (BVerfG NJW 2020, 38):

1. The reservation of places for representatives of the media (see V. 2) is based on No. 125 Para. 3 RiStBV [Instructions on Criminal Procedure and Administrative Fines Procedure]. In accordance with these instructions, the court shall provide a sufficient number of suitable places for press reporters in advance.

a) During the investigation proceedings and the interlocutory proceedings, a high level of interest from the German and foreign press was seen. In cases such as this, seat reservation is permissible and necessary (for all information see MüKoStPO/Kulhanek, 1st edition 2018, GVG Section 176 margin no. 29).

b) The reserved places are in principle only available to accredited representatives of the media. The restriction of seat reservations to accredited representatives of the media is covered by the presiding judge’s power to maintain order (BVerfG NJW-RR 2007, 1053, MüKoStPO/Kulhanek, 1st edition 2018, GVG Section 176 margin no. 30). This is necessary in order to give all representatives of the media an equal chance of a guaranteed opportunity to be admitted to the reserved places. During the accreditation process, a check is carried out to determine whether a received accreditation application is from a representative of the media. For organisational reasons, the verification of the journalistic work of persons who are applying for the reserved places must take place before the hearing day. Investigations may be required to check an application in individual cases. This applies in particular to representatives of the media from abroad or representatives of online offerings whose journalistic work is not evident. (Concerning the journalistic nature of the work of bloggers see: VGH [Higher Administrative Court] Munich, ruling dated 27.01.2017, 7 CE 16.1994, VG Augsburg [Administrative Court], ruling dated 31.05.2016, ZD 2016, 548, beck-online, BeckOK InfoMedienR/Lent, 27th ed. 1.2.2020, RStV [Interstate Broadcasting Agreement] Section 55 margin no. 9). This check – required to protect the principle of equality – must take place before the hearing day due to the large number of representatives of the media expected. Only on the days when the reserved places cannot all be filled with accredited journalists can representatives of the media whose journalistic work can be verified also be admitted to the reserved places (see V.2., V.4.).

c) Irrespective of the particular courtroom, the general public shall be given either the same number of places at the hearing as there are places reserved for representatives of the media or, in the event of an uneven number of seats, always one place more than the places reserved for representatives of the media. With this restriction, at least 50% of the places are available in the courtroom for the general public. This complies with the public access principle laid down in Section 169 Para. 1 Sentence 1 GVG. (See Kulhanek in MüKoStPO, 1st edition 2018, GVG Section 176 margin no. 31.)

Corona-related restrictions to the number of admitted persons constitute a health protection measure.

d) Seats are allocated (points V.2 - 8.) in order of the persons’ arrival. This decision is made based on the principle that all accredited representatives of the media are to have equal chances when seats are allocated (see BVerfG NJW 2013, 1293 (1294)).

2. a) The exclusion of audio and film recordings and photographs (Point III.8.) is based on Section 169 Sentence 2 in conjunction with Section 176 GVG (see BVerfG NJW 2001, 1633, beck-online).

b.) Audio and film recordings and photographs are permitted for 15 minutes until the beginning of each session, with the following stipulations:

(1) Audio and film recordings and photographs cannot usually be generally prohibited, as orders from the presiding judge in accordance with Section 176 GVG with which the creation of photographs and television recordings of the occurrences in the courtroom related to the trial are subject to restrictions constitute an encroachment upon the extent of the protection of the freedom of the press as per Article 5 I 2 GG (BVerfG NJW 2014, 3013, beck-online). A restriction to the freedom of the press requires specific grounds related to considerations in the context of directing the hearing to ensure the protection of the accused and the other parties to the proceedings, an uninterrupted hearing or the conditions for uninterrupted establishment of the truth and the course of justice. (BVerfG ibid.). There are no grounds that could justify a general ban of audio and film recordings and photographs in this case.

(2) Only accredited representatives of the media shall be permitted to make audio and film recordings and take photographs. For the justification, please see Point I.2.b.) under Grounds.

(3) Accredited representatives of the media shall only be permitted to make audio and film recordings and take photographs as part of a pool. The presiding judge’s power to maintain order includes the authority to issue more detailed rules concerning admittance to the courtroom and the conduct within it. This also includes more detailed rules for the distribution of the short supply of seats to journalists (see BVerfG, NJW 2003, 500). This can include stipulating a “pool solution”, whereby a limited number of “pool managers” are appointed to attend the hearing, chosen from those interested in attending (see BVerfGE NJW-RR 2008, 1069, beck-online, BVerfG NJW 2017, 798, beck-online; ECHR BeckRS 2016, 3402, beck-online; Kulhanek in MüKoStPO, 1st edition 2018, GVG Section 176 margin no. 36).

The ordering of a pool is required as a very large number of representatives of the media is expected. The formation of a pool may only be dispensed with if – contrary to expectations – fewer representatives of the media apply for accreditation (see Point I.3.).

(4) The pool managers must undertake to give pool members access to visual material that has been produced, without delay. Only in this way is it possible to ensure that all accredited representatives of the media receive adequate access to visual material.

Dr. Dominik Groß
Presiding judge at the Regional Court


Dates:

19.10.2021
9:00 a.m.
Continuation of the trial
CLC, courtroom

26.10.2021
9:00 a.m.
Continuation of the trial
CLC, courtroom

02.11.2021
9:00 a.m.
Continuation of the trial
CLC, courtroom

09.11.2021
9:00 a.m.
Continuation of the trial
CLC, courtroom

16.11.2021
9:00 a.m.
Continuation of the trial
CLC, courtroom

23.11.2021
9:00 a.m.
Continuation of the trial
CLC, courtroom

07.12.2021
9:00 a.m.
Continuation of the trial
CLC, courtroom

14.12.2021
9:00 a.m.
Continuation of the trial
CLC, courtroom

21.12.2021
9:00 a.m.
Continuation of the trial
CLC, courtroom

11.01.2022
9:00 a.m.
Continuation of the trial
CLC, courtroom

18.01.2022
9:00 a.m.
Continuation of the trial
CLC, courtroom

25.01.2022
9:00 a.m.
Continuation of the trial
CLC, courtroom

01.02.2022
9:00 a.m.
Continuation of the trial
CLC, courtroom

08.02.2022
9:00 a.m.
Continuation of the trial
CLC, courtroom

15.02.2022
9:00 a.m.
Continuation of the trial
CLC, courtroom

22.02.2022
9:00 a.m.
Continuation of the trial
CLC, courtroom

01.03.2022
9:00 a.m.
Continuation of the trial
CLC, courtroom

22.03.2022
9:00 a.m.
Continuation of the trial
CLC, courtroom

29.03.2022
9:00 a.m.
Continuation of the trial
CLC, courtroom

05.04.2022
9:00 a.m.
Continuation of the trial
CLC, courtroom

12.04.2022
9:00 a.m.
Continuation of the trial
CLC, courtroom

19.04.2022
9:00 a.m.
Continuation of the trial
CLC, courtroom

26.04.2022
9:00 a.m.
Continuation of the trial
CLC, courtroom

17.05.2022
9:00 a.m.
Continuation of the trial
CLC, courtroom

31.05.2022
9:00 a.m.
Continuation of the trial
CLC, courtroom

07.06.2022
9:00 a.m.
Continuation of the trial
CLC, courtroom