Criminal revision: procedural correction of lower court’s dismissal order without substantive alteration of conviction

In a decision by the Fifth Criminal Senate of the German Federal Court of Justice, the appellate court upheld the conviction of the defendant by rejecting his appeal as unfounded, while simultaneously overturning the lower court’s procedural order to dismiss the appeal as inadmissible. The case involved a criminal appeal against a first-instance judgment rendered on July 21, 2023, where the defendant challenged the sentence through revision. The court found no legal error detrimental to the defendant upon reviewing the judgment in light of the stated grounds for appeal, resulting in the final upholding of the original criminal conviction. The defendant was ordered to bear the costs of the appellate proceedings and the necessary expenses of the auxiliary party. The legal basis for the decision rests on the procedural rules governing the admissibility and merits review of criminal revisions, specifically determining that while the initial dismissal was procedurally incorrect, the substantive review revealed no justifiable grounds for reversal.