On Tuesday it will be tight in the corridors of the Frankfurt district court.

Many want to be there when the mayor of the German financial metropolis has to face a criminal trial due to allegations of corruption - a mayor in court is a first for Frankfurt.

Peter Feldmann (SPD) has repeatedly catapulted himself into the public eye since the investigations against him became known.

Be it with his reaction to the filing and approval of the charges in spring or with his appearance at the Frankfurt Eintracht Europa League celebration, which may have been noticed by many more people.

In view of the images that the Lord Mayor has produced in recent months, all eyes will be on Frankfurt from afar from Tuesday onwards.

Anna Sophia Lang

Editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.

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Things are now getting serious for Peter Feldmann.

Did his future wife get a job as daycare manager at Arbeiterwohlfahrt (AWO) with an excessive salary and a company car because he used his office to exert influence?

Did he receive campaign aid from the AWO in the form of donations raised?

Is that why he “tacitly agreed” with the AWO, his former employer, to consider their interests in a benevolent manner in the course of his office?

Whether the Economic Criminal Court will come to the conclusion at the end of the trial that he is guilty of accepting an advantage is an open question, the presumption of innocence applies.

Don't be fooled by the hype

Again and again there have been city leaders for whom such proceedings ended with a conditional dismissal.

It remains to be seen whether this will be the case with Feldmann.

The judges who are dealing with larger-scale cases in other cases – in the cum-ex process of Maple Bank with an alleged tax loss of 366 million euros – will not be impressed by the hype surrounding the mayor.

You will work through the evidence program at your leisure.

The chamber and its chairman have the reputation of being stringent and transparent in negotiations, meticulous and sometimes strict.

But also to find clear words, should they deem it necessary.

The encounter between the public prosecutor and the accused, including his defense, should also be exciting, as Feldmann has repeatedly emphasized how "unfounded and excessive" the allegations are.

The fact that he reacted to the indictment with the sentence that he trusted in the independence of the courts must have annoyed the criminal prosecutors.

Feldmann is defended not only by civil servant law specialist David Hofferbert, who speaks publicly of his client's innocence, but also by criminal defense attorney Ulrich Endres, who became known to a wider public when he represented the murderer of the banker's son Jakob von Metzler.

In his career he has taken on many high-profile cases.

He and colleagues are currently defending the Syrian doctor who is before the Higher Regional Court on allegations of torture.

Endres,

who does not lack self-confidence, does not shy away from making himself unpopular with the public prosecutor's office and the court.

Or with his clients: "In a criminal case, I'm the captain, I decide," he said in a 2008 interview with the FAZ. And: "Stupidity drives me crazy."

Feldmann has to do without him on the first day of the hearing.

Therefore, only the reading of the indictment is currently planned.

On the second day of the hearing there could then be time for an admission.

It is eagerly awaited whether the accused will continue to pursue his previous strategy and deny all allegations with pithy words, even outside of the court in front of the cameras, or whether he will present himself more cautiously.

13 witnesses summoned

There are 13 witnesses on the summons list, although in view of the involvement of some of them in the AWO scandal, it is not clear whether all of them will really come and, if so, whether they will invoke their right to refuse information.

As the mayor's wife, Zübeyde Feldmann has the right to refuse to testify.

It remains to be seen whether the planned six days of negotiations until the end of November will be sufficient or not that many are necessary.

Before the referendum on Feldmann's political future on November 6, two more days of negotiations are scheduled for October 27 and 31.

Meanwhile, the public prosecutor's office has dropped the case of hit-and-run against Feldmann due to minor guilt, as his spokesman said.

When asked, the public prosecutor said that after the accident with a parked car in mid-July, Feldmann made a clear effort to settle the damage.

The matter will now be handed over to the regional council because of the administrative offence.