The position of the Hessian attorney general, which has been vacant for more than a year, will remain vacant for longer.

After the Administrative Court of Giessen rejected the urgent application of an unsuccessful applicant on July 12, the Hessian Administrative Court now has to decide on the complaint.

The court in Giessen announced that it was received on time.

As reported, the long-time attorney general Helmut Fünfsinn retired on April 1 of last year.

At the end of 2019, the ministry began looking for a successor.

Ewald Hetrodt

Correspondent for the Rhein-Main-Zeitung in Wiesbaden.

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There were initially six applicants.

The Ministry of Justice justified the lengthy selection process by stating that there were also personalities among the aspirants who did not come from Hesse.

In these cases, external assessments would have to be obtained and assessed in order to establish comparability of the applicants, said the spokesman for the Ministry of Justice when the FDP criticized the duration of the procedure in the Hessian state parliament in January of this year.

Equivalent offices

It has become particularly explosive in the face of the Frankfurt judicial scandal. At the center of this is the long-term spokesman for the Attorney General, who has since been suspended. Justice Minister Eva Kühne-Hörmann (CDU) selected one of the department heads from her company as Fünfsinn's successor. But one of the other aspirants, allegedly a judge of the Federal Supreme Court residing in Giessen, went to the administrative court. He submitted that the service assessments were not comparable and incorrectly assessed and that his current office should be rated higher.

The court, however, followed the arguments of the Ministry of Justice. The current offices of the applicants are equivalent. The same applies to the relevant business assessments. That is why the auxiliary consideration is admissible, according to which the head of department had already been active as a permanent representative of a public prosecutor. This means that he has “previous experience” in the advertised office and can be used for the post to be filled with a shorter training period. When the Administrative Court will decide on the complaint that has just been received is currently completely open.