He opposes the reopening of criminal proceedings against him. After the rape and killing of 17-year-old Frederike in 1981, he was already a suspect, but was acquitted in 1983 because his guilt could not be proven. In 2012, a molecular genetic report revealed that a trace of DNA on the clothing of the dead person could have come from him.
Frederike’s father, Hans von Möhlmann, fought for a retrial. After long political discussions, a change in the law came into force in 2021. According to this, a trial against a person who has been finally acquitted can be resumed if new evidence makes it very likely that he would be convicted of certain serious crimes.
As a result, the public prosecutor’s office applied in early 2022 to resume the proceedings. The district court of Verden ordered this and the pre-trial detention, the higher regional court in Celle rejected an appeal against it. The suspect then filed a constitutional complaint to have the retrial of his trial reviewed.
The new regulation in the Criminal Code is controversial because the Basic Law prohibits punishing someone more than once for the same crime. The court must determine whether it is constitutional. It negotiated on May 24. A decision is still pending.
The suspect also applied in Karlsruhe in an urgent procedure to temporarily suspend the arrest warrant. He was partially successful with this in July 2022. The court ordered his conditional release from pre-trial detention and extended that order in December.
Now it has been extended again by up to six months, but without conditions. Since the man had followed the measures ordered without hesitation for a year, the risk of him evading criminal prosecution is low.
