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Courthouse in Hanau
Photo: Arne Dedert/dpa
The Hanau regional court has acquitted three former employees of a nursing home of the accusation that they were partly responsible for the serious spread of the coronavirus in the facility due to a lack of protective measures.
During the outbreak in December 2020, all 64 home residents near Hanau were infected with the virus - 17 of them died.
The defendants "neither put the residents in a helpless situation nor abandoned them," said presiding judge Mirko Schulte in his verdict on Thursday.
The defendants were the former facility manager, the former nursing service manager and his deputy.
Expected verdict
The acquittals were widely expected because the prosecution had moved away from its original accusation of suspension during the course of the trial and, like the defense, had pleaded for acquittal.
According to public prosecutor Markus Jung, the main reason for this turnaround was a report that pointed out the cramped structural conditions in the home, which would have facilitated the outbreak of Covid-19.
The accusation of suspension, which is rather rare in criminal proceedings, involves putting people in a helpless situation or abandoning them and thereby exposing them to "the risk of death or serious damage to their health."
wit/dpa