Mar­cus Prinz von Anhalt: BGH over­turns ver­dict

The 1st Cri­mi­nal Divi­si­on of the Fede­ral Court of Jus­ti­ce has set asi­de the judgment of the Augs­burg Regio­nal Court of Janu­ary 16, 2015 and refer­red the case to a dif­fe­rent cri­mi­nal divi­si­on of the Regio­nal Court for a new hea­ring and decis­i­on.

Mar­cus Prinz von Anhalt was sen­ten­ced to four years’ impri­son­ment for tax eva­si­on on Janu­ary 16, 2015. He suc­cessful­ly defen­ded hims­elf against this by fil­ing an appeal. Prin­ce von Anhalt always rejec­ted a deal with the public prosecutor’s office, becau­se in his opi­ni­on he had not com­mit­ted a crime. The pro­cee­dings are exclu­si­ve­ly con­cer­ned with the asser­ti­on of motor vehic­le cos­ts for tax pur­po­ses. The other cri­mi­nal tax char­ges have alre­a­dy been drop­ped.

After 704 days in pre-tri­al detenti­on and months of decis­i­on-making, the Fede­ral Supre­me Court has now over­tur­ned the Augs­burg Regio­nal Court’s ver­dict. The­re will be a new hea­ring, but this time befo­re a dif­fe­rent cham­ber of the court of first ins­tance.

Prin­ce von Anhalt com­men­ted: “I have been unjus­t­ly impri­so­ned for two years. I was given a cri­mi­nal con­vic­tion in Augs­burg, even though the actu­al tax pro­cee­dings are still far from being con­cluded. From my point of view, this is pure arbi­trar­i­ne­ss. A scan­dal!”

Mainz defen­se att­or­ney Olaf Lang­han­ki, who repre­sen­ted von Anhalt befo­re the BGH, com­men­ted on the decis­i­on: “We were always con­vin­ced that the Augs­burg ver­dict could not stand. Prin­ce von Anhalt never gave up in the fight for his rights. It is all the more gra­ti­fy­ing that the BGH has now over­tur­ned the judgment and orde­red a new tri­al.”

Mar­cus Prinz von Anhalt will now also file a new appeal against impri­son­ment. He hopes to be released from pre-tri­al detenti­on in the short term and also to final­ly be able to see his daugh­ter again soon.