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Germany: Police powers "unconstitutional"

01 May 1996

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The Constitutional Court in the German Federal State of Sachsen (Saxony) has ruled that the prevailing police legislation is unconstitutional upholding a complaint by the Social Democrats and the Bundnis Greens. The Court ruled that the maximum two weeks' limit during which someone could be held in police custody in order to prevent an offence against public security should not apply to persons who were "in a helpless condition or in danger of committing suicide"; and also that the regulations for identity controls and for carrying out a police order to vacate a location were exaggerated and unconstitutional. The Court also found that methods of collecting information ("bugs", directional microphones, undercover agents), and the collection of information in cases of simple unorganised crime against property, were unconstitutional. The Court also ruled unconstitutional the bugging of private flats and houses belonging to persons not immediately suspected of potentially committing a crime. The Court required the Police Law to be altered before the end of the current legislation period, otherwise the police will lose their right to collect information by electronic and undercover methods. Süddeutsche Zeitung, 15.5.96.

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