This week, Germany's most well-known criminal law professor, Prof. Dr. Ingeborg Puppe, of the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, confirmed that the public prosecutor is obliged to press charges in the case of the flood disaster in Rhineland-Palatinate, in which 135 people died. This is the result of a press conference held at our premises in Koblenz this week.
Prof. Dr. Ingeborg Puppe is considered a high authority in jurisprudence. Her well-known books are known worldwide and have even been translated into Chinese and Spanish.
Prof. Dr. Ingeborg Puppe emphasized that according to case law, no defendant can claim that another person might have committed a different offense.
Numerous journalists from all over Germany, along with TV crews from SAT 1, SWR and TV Mittelrhein, survivors of the 2021 flood disaster and politicians attended the event at our new event venue in Koblenz. Michael Wäschenbach, the CDU parliamentary group's spokesperson on care policy and permanent deputy member of the "Flood Catastrophe" committee of inquiry, was also present, for example.
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Erwin Zehe, a hydrologist known from the television program Planet Wissen and highly renowned internationally, from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, confirmed with the help of an impressive presentation that the public prosecutor's decision is not professionally justifiable.
The press conference organized by the law firm Dr. Caspers Mock & Partner attracted nationwide interest from journalists and federal politicians.
Lawyer for criminal law and specialist lawyer for administrative law Christian Hecken, LL.M., LL.M., is of the opinion that the current handling of the flood disaster by the responsible institutions in Rhineland-Palatinate violates the bereaved's right to effective and timely prosecution under the Basic Law Article 2, paragraph 2, sentences 1 and 2 in conjunction with Article 1, paragraph 1, sentence 2 of the German Basic Law and calls in particular on Minister President Alexander Schweitzer to act immediately.
The statements represent initial information that was current for the law applicable in Germany at the time of initial publication. The legal situation may have changed since then. Furthermore, the information provided cannot replace individual advice on a specific matter. Please contact us for this purpose.