The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) faction in the Bundestag is pushing for legislative changes aimed at bolstering the protection of individuals involved in legal proceedings and enhancing the monitoring of suspects. According to CSU parliamentarian Susanne Hierl, the faction’s legal policy spokesperson, “Those who testify or make decisions in criminal proceedings deserve the best possible protection, particularly in the context of organized crime”. The CDU indicated willingness to introduce a corresponding draft law in the Bundestag.
The proposed legislation largely mirrors a previous initiative originating from the state of Berlin, submitted to the Federal Council last year. This draft sought to classify threats and intimidation attempts against witnesses, judges and other participants in legal processes as a particularly serious form of coercion. Furthermore, it would have granted investigators the authority to collect telecommunications and location data from suspects in such cases. While the proposal navigated committee reviews, it was withdrawn before a Federal Council vote due to a lack of consensus, especially encountering resistance from states with Green party involvement.
CDU officials believe revisiting the Berlin proposal within the Bundestag offers a path forward, albeit one potentially hampered by opposition from the Social Democratic Party (SPD). SPD legal policy spokesperson Carmen Wegge has voiced reservations, stating that expanding investigative powers, such as telecommunications monitoring and traffic data inquiries, is “not tenable”. Wegge emphasized a need for better equipping the judiciary and strengthening witness protection programs, challenging the notion that increased surveillance is the appropriate response.
The Green party also opposes the initiative, characterizing it as “pure law-and-order symbol politics”. Green party representative Lena Gumnior argues that the CDU has not provided sufficient evidence of a rise in related crimes and that existing regulations are adequate to address threats.
The threat landscape remains difficult to quantify definitively. A nationwide statistics for such incidents is lacking. While individual states report varying data-Niedersachsen registered 156 insults, 54 threats and 9 acts of violence against judicial staff in 2024; Baden-Württemberg counted 195 security-relevant incidents-several states, including Hessen, Sachsen-Anhalt and Thüringen, have noted increasing intimidation within the judicial system. Conversely, Rheinland-Pfalz reports low case numbers and Nordrhein-Westfalen only began collecting such data in April 2024.
Bayern explicitly supports the Berlin initiative, citing a significant increase in reported incidents: 541 violent occurrences within the judicial sector were recorded between July 2022 and June 2023, compared to 304 incidents in 2020.
The possibility of a new legislative initiative gaining traction in the Bundestag remains uncertain. Hierl stated that the CDU is “open to working with the coalition partner to incorporate the Berlin proposals into a separate legislative initiative” adding that approval from the states would not be required.