No detention
January 13, 2010
A German man convicted of being a dangerous sex offender will remain out of police custody following a decision by the German Federal Court of Justice. The court found that he could not be put in preventive detention after he'd served over 20 years for his offences.
The 58-year-old from the western German town of Heinsberg was sentenced to five-and-a-half years in 1985 for raping a young girl. After his release, the man raped two more girls and was sentenced in 1995 to another 14 years behind bars.
The 1995 sentenced contained no measures for keeping the man, known as Karl D., in preventive custody after completion of the term. The Karlsruhe court said the man could not be placed in preventive custody because that had not been part of the initial sentence, so that such a measure would be "blatantly retrospective punishment."
The federal court ruling follows a state court ruling in February of last year in which a Bavarian court also found no grounds to keep Karl D. in police custody, despite his being declared "dangerous" by court-appointed evaluators.
Police, local community outraged over current law
Since being released less than a year ago, the man has been living in Heinsberg with his brother, under constant police surveillance.
Rainer Wendt, head of the German Police Union, has strongly criticized the high court ruling, calling for lawmakers to change current legislation regarding retrospective preventive detention.
Wendt said it was no longer possible to keep the man under 24-hour surveillance - an undertaking which he said was costing the authorities around 100,000 euros per month.
He added that surveillance was no guarantee that Karl D. would be prevented from repeating his offenses.
The mayor of Heinsberg, Wolfgang Dieder, called on citizens to respond calmly to the Karlsruhe ruling.
He said life with Karl D. would be a "burden" and that he "regretted" the federal court ruling.
Though citizens would have to accept and live with the situation, Dieder said that people in Heinsberg would "have to remain on alert."
glb/AFP/dpa
Editor: Michael Lawton