- The Weimar coronavirus mask situation is under scrutiny by the Judicial Court.
The trial commenced with a delay of over an hour due to substantial public interest in the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) in Karlsruhe. A judge from Thuringia's family court was being accused of showing prejudice in his ruling concerning the COVID-19 mask mandate.
The judge's decision, which had annulled the mask mandate at two schools in Weimar back in 2021, had already been reversed. However, it was the judge himself who faced trials and was found guilty of bias by the District Court of Erfurt in August 2023.
Both the judge and the prosecution filed appeals against his suspended two-year sentence that followed. As the trial began, Gerhard Strate, the judge's attorney, expressed his confidence, saying, "What's right should remain right."
The judge's mask ruling had generated controversy, as had his subsequent bias conviction. Supporters of COVID-19 restrictions had criticized his ruling, while those against it celebrated it and protested his conviction. Around 30 individuals opposed to COVID-19 measures attended the BGH hearing to support the judge. The courtroom was overflowing.
The District Court of Erfurt had determined that the defendant had made his mask ruling biased instead of impartial, and also that he had actively initiated the case and worked on it weeks prior to his decision, deliberately targeting a family whose children he later placed under child protection. The date of BGH's decision on this case (Case No.: 2 StR 54/24) is yet to be announced.
The judge's appeals against his suspended sentence were handled by The Commission assigned to oversee appeals in the Federal Court of Justice (BGH). Despite the public's strong interest, The Commission ensured that the proceedings proceeded in an orderly manner, considering the gravity of the judge's accusations.
