Processes
Judgment on severed head confirmed in court by BGH
The police cordoned off the area in front of the Bonn regional court after the severed head was found. photo
© Thomas Banneyer/dpa
This sight shocked passers-by in Bonn in the summer of 2022: a man had placed a severed human head in front of a courthouse. The case ended up before the BGH, which has now ruled.
The BGH has now rejected the appeals of the defendant and the public prosecutor. Ekkehard Appl, chairman of the second criminal senate, said when the verdict was announced in Karlsruhe: “The case is now closed and the dead man can find peace.” (Af. 2 StR 270/23)
According to the regional court’s findings, the man placed the head of his friend, who died of tuberculosis, before the court in June 2022. Both were homeless. The court could not determine with certainty whether the man had previously severed his head. During the trial, the defendant remained silent about the allegations. His motivation remained unclear.
Shock among passers-by
During the trial before the regional court, witnesses were shocked by the sight that greeted them. A woman reported that her son shouted: “Mom, mom, there’s a head there.” At first she thought it was a macabre joke.
In the hearing before the Federal Court of Justice, the man’s defense lawyer particularly criticized the regional court’s legal assessment. She did not consider the offense of disturbing the peace of the dead to be fulfilled. Therefore, her client should have been acquitted. The man himself did not come to Karlsruhe. The representative of the Federal Prosecutor’s Office criticized, among other things, the fact that the regional court had drawn conclusions from the evidence that were not comprehensible.
However, the Senate decided otherwise. When making the announcement, Judge Appl pointed out that the determination of guilt was free of legal errors. The court also made it clear why it could not determine beyond doubt who had severed the head. The judgment is therefore legally binding.