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Court cuts prison sentence for drug dealer – A Christmas miracle?
Stralsund: Court shortens prison sentence for drug dealer from Barth. New law on cannabis use influences decisions.
Court cuts prison sentence for drug dealer – A Christmas miracle?
The prison sentence of a 43-year-old former drug dealer from Barth was recently shortened in the Stralsund regional court. The man was convicted of serious narcotics law violations in February after investigations revealed that he sold drugs, including marijuana, cocaine and amphetamines, through his gym. In total, investigators found 1.5 kilograms of marijuana, 400 grams of cocaine and numerous other drugs in his possession that he had offered between 2020 and 2021. Because of his confession, the original sentence was three years and three months.
But surprisingly, there has now been a reassessment of the case, like this Baltic Sea newspaper reported. This review was necessitated by the new law regulating cannabis, which came into force in April 2024. This law meant that numerous procedures in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, a total of 6,500, had to be re-examined. The court ruled that the original sentence did not take sufficient account of the amount of cannabis and its effects when determining the sentence. Although all the drug offenses took place before the new law came into force, the Federal Court had ruled that this was important when reassessing the sentence.
Legal protection in focus
The problem of excessively long procedures is also illustrated by a reference to the fundamental right to effective legal protection. How Right magnifying glass As explained, legal proceedings must be completed within a reasonable time. In a comparable case, the Federal Constitutional Court found that the long period of 18 years for the decision on a civil law application was unreasonable. Here, too, it has become clear how important rapid jurisprudence is in order to ensure procedural fairness.
The case of the Barth drug dealer now shows that, despite serious offenses, reform can also have a positive impact on the legal assessment of individual judgments. The agreement between the court, the public prosecutor and the defense refers to the fact that the crimes are already in the past and a certain amount of time has passed. The gym owner can now hope to soon be transferred to the open prison, which will enable him to resocialize more quickly.