Heinrich Wilhelm Laufhütte

Heinrich Wilhelm Laufhütte (born April 13, 1934 in Herten / Westphalia) was a judge at the German Federal Court of Justice from 1977 to 1999 .

After completing his legal training, Laufhütte joined the judicial service of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia in 1962 . After his appointment as a judge for life in 1965, he became a district judge at the Bochum district court . In 1967 he was seconded to the Federal Ministry of Justice, and in 1970 he was transferred to the Federal Ministry of Justice with simultaneous appointment as government director . In 1973 he was appointed Ministerial Councilor.

Laufhütte became a judge at the Federal Court of Justice in July 1977. There he worked as a rapporteur in the 3rd and 4th Criminal Senate and, from 1990, as Chairman of the 5th Criminal Senate. When Laufhütte reached the age limit in 1999, he retired.

According to the judgment of legal experts, Heinrich W. Laufhütte significantly influenced and shaped the development of the case law of this court in the areas of criminal law and criminal procedure law during his many years of activity at the Federal Court of Justice. The judgments passed under his chairmanship on DNA analysis when identifying a perpetrator (BGHSt 37, 157) or on communication in criminal proceedings (BGHSt 42, 46 and 191) were named as examples.

Laufhütte was also involved in the legal processing of GDR injustice, for example on the question of the criminal liability of the so-called wall riflemen (BHGSt 39, 1 and 168) and the associated responsibility of members of the GDR National Defense Council (BGHSt 40, 218) . The perversion of rights by GDR judges and GDR public prosecutors were topics (BGHSt 40, 30 and 169; BGHSt 41, 247), the denunciation of GDR citizens by German citizens (BGHSt 42, 275) and the kidnapping of German citizens in the GDR (BGHSt 42, 332). The decision on the murders on Bülowplatz in 1931 (BGHSt 41, 72) also came from the 5th Criminal Senate.

Laufhütte was also very committed to moving the 5th Penal Senate, which was then based in Berlin, to Leipzig.

Source and web link

• Presiding judge at the Federal Court of Justice Heinrich Wilhelm Laufhütte in retirement , Federal Court of Justice press release No. 37 of April 30, 1999, retrieved from the legal internet project Saarbrücken ( http://www.jura.uni-sb.de )

Literature and publications

• Literature by and about Heinrich Wilhelm Laufhütte in the catalog of the German National Library