Witness protection program
The term witness protection comprises as a collective term state measures to protect witnesses from the dangers to which they are exposed as a result of their testimony in their own criminal proceedings or against third parties , in the main hearing itself or at a later stage. The implementation of the criminal proceedings should be ensured by introducing the knowledge of the witness into the criminal proceedings and contributing to a conviction. From the police point of view, there is also encouragement to testify and to leave the criminal scene. Identity and whereabouts of informants , V-people or undercover agents can be kept secret in order to be able to continue to work for the police work.
Situation in Germany
The protection of endangered witnesses, especially in connection with the fight against organized crime, is primarily and largely a task of averting danger . Victims of criminal offenses are often also mentally stressed by the interrogations carried out in the course of the criminal proceedings. At the same time, the administration of justice obliges the citizen as a witness to participate in the proceedings ( Section 48 of the Code of Criminal Procedure). In order to safeguard their right to a fair trial and their legitimate interests, the resulting burdens for vulnerable witnesses should be kept within limits.
Legal regulation
In addition to the measures taken on the basis of the Witness Protection Harmonization Act (ZSHG) to protect persons at risk, the Code of Criminal Procedure (StPO) and the Courts Constitution Act (GVG) contain various options for protecting witnesses in ongoing criminal proceedings.
Under certain conditions, a defendant can be expelled from the courtroom while a witness is giving evidence ( Section 168c Paragraph 3, Section 247 Sentence 2 StPO); he will then be informed of the testimony of the witness.
Endangered witnesses may acc. In the case of an interrogation by the police or public prosecutor's office as well as in the main hearing, instead of your place of residence, state your place of business or work or another address for summons in accordance with Section 68 (2) StPO. They are entitled not to provide personal information or only to provide information about a previous identity and, in exceptional cases, to cover their face in whole or in part, contrary to Section 176 (2) sentence 1 GVG ( Section 68 (3) StPO).
Witnesses can be recorded in the preliminary proceedings according to § 58a StPO as well as in the main hearing according to § 247a sentence 4 StPO in the absence of the accused and presented in the context of the taking of evidence according to § 255a StPO. These provisions were inserted into the StPO with the Witness Protection Act on December 1, 1998, in order to protect victims in need of protection from the psychological consequences of a renewed confrontation with the alleged perpetrator. However, they are also applicable to a witness protected in accordance with the Witness Protection Harmonization Act (ZSHG).
According to § 223 , § 251 StPO, the court can examine whether a witness can be expected to appear at the main hearing or to testify at all, taking into account his personal concerns.
In addition, the public can be excluded from a hearing or part of it, such as the questioning of an endangered witness, if there is a concern that the life, body or freedom of the witness will be endangered ( Section 172 No. 1a GVG).
statistics
Specific information on witness protection is no longer published by the Federal Criminal Police Office in order not to endanger the protection program through the potential merging of pieces of information. On the basis of information from the Federal Criminal Police Office in 2006, however, around 330 cases of witness protection activities were recorded across Germany.
Examples
Volker Speitel (* 1950) was a member of the Red Army Faction (RAF). His statements are particularly important for understanding what happened on the night of the death in Stammheim . In 1979 Speitel was released and went underground with the help of the witness protection program of the Federal Criminal Police Office . Speitel's cover identity has already been revealed twice and had to be renewed.
Klaus Steinmetz (* 1959) is a former undercover agent for the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution in Rhineland-Palatinate . After the spy activity became known, Autonome from Wiesbaden published an “alternative profile ” against Steinmetz and distributed it across Europe. The former undercover agent then went into hiding. Since August 1993 he has been part of the witness protection program of the Rhineland-Palatinate Office for the Protection of the Constitution.
Carsten Schultze, who was co-accused in the NSU trial , was accepted into a witness protection program because of his testimony.
Witness protection in other countries (selection)
Europe
The European Union has adopted various legal acts to protect victims and witnesses. Corresponding minimum standards were formulated in the European Victim Protection Directive of October 25, 2012.
The European Commission's working document of November 13, 2007 provides an overview of the witness protection laws in the member states and Norway . Most EU member states then have a witness protection regulation either in a separate law or in the code of criminal procedure.
The Europol Platform for Experts also serves as an exchange on the subject of witness protection.
Austria
On April 29, 2014 , the National Council adopted a multilateral agreement with Bulgaria, Estonia, Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, the Czech Republic and Hungary to develop and deepen cooperation in the field of witness protection .
Switzerland
Switzerland did not have an official program until 2013 . However, it is known that the police in the individual cantons carried out independent witness protection measures when necessary. The federal law on extra-procedural witness protection (ZeugSG) has existed since January 1, 2013. The law was a prerequisite for Switzerland's accession to the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings of May 16, 2005.
Italy
The German-Italian hitman Giorgio Basile (born 1960) was chief witness against the 'Ndrangheta . Basile lives in the witness protection program of the Italian police .
Ireland
The program is hosted by the Irish Public Prosecutor. The first person under witness protection is Charles Bowden, who testified as a key witness in the case of the murder of journalist Veronica Guerin .
Overseas
United States of America
Legal position
The United States Federal Witness Protection Program was established in 1970 to facilitate the fight against organized crime. Precursors of the program was the Ku Klux Klan Act , which since 1871 testify against the Ku Klux Klan was supposed to protect. The idea contained therein was then taken up by the FBI .
In addition, individual states have their own system of witness protection, in particular the states of Texas , California , Illinois , Connecticut and New York . However, these programs always cooperate with the FBI's nationwide witness protection program.
Before a witness is accepted into the program, a risk assessment must be in place and the means to protect it must be weighed up.
In the case of victims of human trafficking, threatened witnesses can even be granted residence status.
Persons in witness protection programs (selection)
- Henry Hill (1943–2012): an American mobster whose life was portrayed in the 1990 film Good Fellas - Three Decades in the Mafia . Hill was accepted into the US witness protection program with his family. As an associate of the Lucchese family , he testified in particular against Paul Vario . However, Hill got back into the drug trade in 1987 and was convicted.
- Sammy Gravano (* 1945): as the American mobster consigliere of the Bonanno family . These statements made Gravano the highest-ranking mafioso up to that point, who became a Pentito and broke the omertà until in 2004 Joseph Massino - at that time boss of the Bonanno family - also cooperated with the authorities.
- Joe Valachi (1904–1971) was an American mafioso of the Genovese family . With Valachi's help, 317 members of La Cosa Nostra were identified and exposed; In the 3 years from 1963 to 1966 alone, more convictions were pronounced as a result of his statements than in the 30 years before. Valachi was guarded by up to 200 US marshals while he testified before Congress . Valachi, however, was not waived in principle and died in prison, where he was held in solitary confinement for his protection . A witness protection program as it is today did not exist at the time.
- Joseph D. Pistone (* 1939): The American FBI agent had penetrated undercover under the name of Donnie Brasco into the structures of the Bonanno and, in some cases, the Colombo family . The circumstances were filmed in the movie Donnie Brasco .
Canada
Canada has had such a program since June 20, 1996 with the Witness Protection Program Act .
New Zealand
The police in New Zealand protect witnesses against gangs and professional criminals and, if necessary, give the witnesses a new identity.
In 2007 the program came under public criticism because a person protected by the program caused a fatal accident while driving while drunk and was further protected by the police as the perpetrator, so that the drive had no legal consequences.
Media reception
- 1996: Eraser - Director: Chuck Russell - u. a. with Arnold Schwarzenegger , James Caan and James Coburn
- 2007: My murderer is coming back - German TV film by Andreas Senn , u. a. with Katharina Wackernagel
- 2009: Murderer on Amrum , German crime film by Markus Imboden
- 2013: Die Kronzeugin - Murder in the Mountains , German TV film with Iris Berben
- 2016: The program , German TV film a. a. with Nina Kunzendorf
Web links
- Susi Wimmer: Witness protection: when life is set back to zero . In: sueddeutsche.de
- Corinna Nohn: Witness protection: Whoever wants to talk gets a new life . In: sueddeutsche.de
- Detlef Schmalenberg, Axel Spilcker: Witness protection: "Then I'm fair game" . In: focus.de
- Lena Niethammer: Bad hiding place . In: sueddeutsche.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ Wolfgang Sielaff: "Prohibition to testify" by the perpetrator. Criminology 1986, 58 ff.
- ^ Walter Buggisch: Witness threat and witness protection in Germany and the USA. Research on criminology and sanctions law, Volume 11, Berlin 2001, p. 147
- ^ Klaus Zacharias: The endangered witness in criminal proceedings. Berlin 1997, p. 160
- ↑ Griesbaum, NStZ 1998, 437.
- ^ Draft of a law to combat illegal drug trafficking and other manifestations of organized crime (OrgKG) BT-Drs. 12/989 of July 25, 1991, p. 33 f.
- ^ Draft of a law amending the code of criminal procedure (law on the protection of witnesses during interrogations in criminal proceedings; witness protection law - ZSchG) BT-Drs. 13/7165 of March 11, 1997, p. 4
- ↑ Protection of witnesses in criminal proceedings: On the legal situation in Germany Scientific services of the German Bundestag , status of March 22, 2018, p. 6
- ↑ Christian Siegismund: The protection of endangered witnesses in the Federal Republic with special consideration of the law for the harmonization of the protection of endangered witnesses (witness protection harmonization law ZSHG) . Osnabrück, Univ.-Diss. 2009. Link to download PDF (2.75 MB), p. 101 f.
- ↑ Christian Siegismund: The protection of endangered witnesses in the Federal Republic with special consideration of the law for the harmonization of the protection of endangered witnesses (witness protection harmonization law ZSHG) . Osnabrück, Univ.-Diss. 2009. Link to download PDF (2.75 MB), p. 56
- ↑ Tom Sundermann: NSU Trial: The Three Lives of Carsten S. Die Zeit , June 4, 2013
- ^ Judgment in the NSU trial: Carsten S. Der Spiegel , July 11, 2018, for three years
- ↑ cf. Christian Siegismund: The protection of endangered witnesses in the Federal Republic with special consideration of the law for the harmonization of the protection of endangered witnesses (witness protection harmonization law ZSHG) . Osnabrück, Univ.-Diss. 2009. Link to download PDF (2.75 MB), p. 156 ff.
- ↑ Directive 2012/29 / EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of October 25, 2012 on minimum standards for the rights, assistance and protection of victims of crime and for the replacement of framework decision 2001/220 / JHA OJ. L 315/57 of November 14, 2012, cf. in particular recitals 2–11.
- ↑ Commission working document on the feasibility of an EU regime for the protection of witnesses and persons working with the judiciary COM (2007) 693.
- ^ Convention on Cooperation in the Field of Witness Protection ( RIS) , accessed on March 5, 2020.
- ^ Resolution of the National Council of April 29, 2014 regarding the Convention on Cooperation in the Field of Witness Protection Stenographic Protocol of the 829th meeting of the Federal Council of the Republic of Austria, May 15, 2014
- ↑ Federal Office of Justice: Extrajudicial witness protection . VPB 2007.19. Archived from the original on November 16, 2007. Retrieved December 28, 2007.
- ↑ Federal Act on Extra-procedural Witness Protection (ZeugSG) of December 23, 2011 Portal of the Swiss government, accessed on July 14, 2017
- ↑ Barbara Wüthrich Frey: The extra-procedural witness protection: the scope, the requirements for the addressees of the witness protection program and the relationship between the various witness protection measures July 8, 2013
- ↑ Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings, Treaty Collection of the Council of Europe - No. 197
- ^ Gary T. Rowe Jr., 64, Who Informed on Klan In Civil Rights Killing, Is Dead states "He was buried under the name of Thomas Neal Moore, the identity that Federal authorities helped him to assume in 1965 after he testified against fellow Klansmen ... ” The New York Times , October 4, 1998.
- ^ California Witness Protection Program - California Bureau of Investigation - California Dept. of Justice - Office of the Attorney General ( Memento of September 17, 2005 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ William Glaberson: 'LIE OR DIE' - Aftermath of a Murder; Justice, Safety and the System: A Witness Is Slain in Brooklyn . In: The New York Times , July 6, 2003. Retrieved May 31, 2012.
- ^ Metro News Briefs: Connecticut; Witness Protection Plan Is Created by New Law . In: nytimes.com
- ↑ Matthew O'Deane: gang . In: Gangs: Theory, Practice and Research . Archived from the original on January 16, 2013. Retrieved May 31, 2012.
- ↑ USCIS Victims of Human Trafficking: T Nonimmigrant Status.
- ↑ "Goodfella Henry Hill In Drug Bust" on thesmokinggun.com with mugshot (English)
- ↑ Seize the Night: Joe Valachi ( Memento from December 20, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) on carpenoctem.tv (English)
- ^ LegislationOnline (1996): Page no longer available , search in web archives: Witness Protection Program Act (Government of Canada).
- ^ New Zealand Police: CIB: International Organized Crime . Archived from the original on September 17, 2008. Retrieved July 5, 2008.
- ^ Corrections Department NZ: Corrections Department NZ - Witness Protection . Archived from the original on November 7, 2007. Retrieved November 18, 2010.
- ↑ Sean Scanlon: Grieving mother wants answers after witness protection tragedy . October 28, 2007. Retrieved July 5, 2008.