Proceedings discontinued

A client of Rechtsanwältin (lawyer) von Burgsdorff was accused of having used a forged Covid vaccination certificate (forgery of documents under sect. 267 StGB, German Criminal Code). In 2022 the Bundesgerichtshof (Federal Court of Justice) had held that the forgery of vaccination certificates is covered by the offence of forgery of documents and that there was no gap in criminal liability (judgment of 10 November 2022, 5 StR 283/22).

In fact it was never established that the client possessed the Covid vaccination certificate, or even that it existed. The assumption that the client had ever possessed a forged vaccination certificate arose only from further circumstantial evidence. It was also unclear whether the forged certificate was even of such quality that it could make a viewer believe it was genuine. Such a negative assumption arose from further evidence, in this case a witness statement. A document within the meaning of criminal law must fulfil three functions: it must record a declaration, serve as evidence and identify its issuer. As it could not be ruled out that this was an obvious forgery, it was not even clear whether a document existed at all, since it might lack the capacity to serve as evidence. In this sense: in dubio pro reo.

By means of a detailed written submission, discontinuation for lack of sufficient suspicion under sect. 170 (2) StPO (German Code of Criminal Procedure) was achieved within a short time.