Felix Perrefort referred to Prince Reuß as a "political prisoner" and emphasized the issue of proportionality in pretrial detention. Whether the defendants have committed a criminal offense should be separated from this and must be decided by the courts based on the evidence; it is hardly possible to make a final judgment from the outside, he wrote. In his view, however, the duration of detention can be assessed. Pretrial detention must not be a penalty in advance, and milder measures such as electronic ankle bracelets, surrendering identification documents and passports, or reporting requirements are available. Such conditions are already being applied in the Stuttgart proceedings. The hearings could nevertheless continue two days a week until a verdict in 2027 or 2028, Perrefort said. The older defendants, particularly the 74-year-old Reuß, could then determine their own diet and medical care, according to him. Reuß's daughter Elena, who has Down syndrome, has reportedly hardly spoken since her father's arrest according to medical confirmation; she could see him regularly again under milder detention conditions, Perrefort wrote. The fact that such measures are not being implemented could raise suspicions among citizens that a political example is being made, he explained. Those who instead invoke the danger invoked by Nancy Faeser in 2022 to justify the continued pretrial detention reveal a lot about themselves from his perspective. #Verhältnismäßigkeit #Rechtsstaat #PolitischeHäftlinge (translated)
