Minimum penalty - Child pornography law before trial against teacher
The law on the adjustment of the minimum sentence for child pornography is now officially in effect. It appeared in the Bundesgesetzblatt on Thursday, according to the Rhineland-Palatinate Ministry of Justice. "It comes into force today." In the case of a teacher from the Westerwald region who is under investigation, this legislative change must be taken into account, a spokesperson for the Amtsgericht Montabaur stated.
Due to significant criticism from the expert community, the Bundestag reduced the minimum sentence for distributing, requesting, and possessing such material. In concrete terms, this affects the teacher from Rhineland-Palatinate. The woman wanted to help a 13-year-old student who had taken intimate photos of herself and sent them to her boyfriend. The boyfriend is suspected of spreading the video, and the woman obtained it and passed it on to the child's mother to protect her.
Therefore, the trial against her is scheduled to begin at the Amtsgericht Montabaur on September 26. The judge will now decide how the proceedings will continue, the spokesperson said. Whether a dismissal of the proceedings will also be considered outside the trial will be determined by the court.
- This new law on minimum sentences for child pornography will undoubtedly impact the ongoing processes at local courts across Germany, including the Amtsgericht Montabaur in Rhineland-Palatinate.
- The Ministry of Justice in Westerwald, Germany, played a crucial role in the introduction of this legislative change, which was published in the Federal Law Gazette.
- Critics argue that the reduction of minimum sentences for child pornography offenses, as stated in this new law, may not adequately address the grave nature of these crimes and their impacts on victims.
- As the trial against the teacher from Rhineland-Palatinate approaches, the local court will have to meticulously examine how this new law interacts with the established jurisprudence in these cases.
