A few weeks before the state budget is passed by parliament, there does not seem to be any sign of a radical alleviation of the shortage of staff in the Hessian courts and public prosecutor's offices.

This emerges from a statement with which the responsible minister Eva Kühne-Hörmann (CDU) responded to a request from the FAZ on Tuesday.

Ewald Hetrodt

Correspondent for the Rhein-Main-Zeitung in Wiesbaden.

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Only an efficient, well-staffed and well-equipped judiciary is able to guarantee the citizens' trust in the rule of law, the Union politician states. That is why it is important to her to constantly ensure improvements in the job area, “as far as the budgetary situation allows”. The Hessian judiciary has benefited from a major development program since 2014. This not only reversed job cuts in the past, but also created new jobs.

"For the future" she is nevertheless committed to having additional judges and public prosecutors support the Hessian judiciary.

With a forward-looking recruitment and personnel policy, positions that become vacant, for example due to retirement or secondments, will be filled promptly, promises the Minister of Justice - no more.

"We have our backs to the wall"

As reported, since last year they have not only received fire letters from court presidents, but also public complaints about the lack of jobs. Even if they were all filled, three hundred judges and public prosecutors would be missing, the judges' association complained in September. "We have our backs to the wall, maybe even against the wall," said Wilhelm Wolf, President of the Frankfurt District Court. In the criminal chambers, each judge does twenty percent more than the staff ratio provides.

One reason for this is the encrochat process. The smartphones from this manufacturer were used in organized crime because they were considered tap-proof. But the security authorities managed to decrypt the chats. However, this resulted in enormous amounts of data, the evaluation of which caused a multiple of the usual effort. This alone should increase the need for judges at the Frankfurt Regional Court by around 30 positions. Around 150 judges currently work there. The civil chambers are also faced with additional burdens. The Wirecard case is actually a matter for the Munich criminal justice system. But many investors accuse the banking regulator Bafin of not having done their duty. Because it is also based in Frankfurt, around 1,500 lawsuits are now expected there. Each of them has 300 pages,guesses wolf.

Elaborate processes such as the Lübcke process

In a decision by the Presidium, the Presidium of the Darmstadt Regional Court announced that proper court operations would no longer be guaranteed in 2022 because 25 judges were missing.

Roman Poseck, the President of the Higher Regional Court in Frankfurt, can also be quoted publicly.

The number of civil proceedings there was around 7,000 in 2021. That is an increase of 30 percent compared to the previous year.

A flood of proceedings is now expected, which was triggered throughout Germany in the wake of the emissions scandal and the pandemic and which has reached particular proportions in large cities such as Frankfurt.

The criminal justice system is also overburdened.

The Lübcke murder trial was one of the particularly demanding and costly procedures.

"We should be able to process all procedures quickly," said Poseck, who also heads the Hessian state court.

"That is the claim that one should have of the rule of law."