Criminal revision: absence of prejudicial legal error in conviction upheld

The Federal Court of Justice, Second Criminal Senate, dismissed the revisions filed by the defendants as unfounded, upholding the judgment of the Cologne District Court and leaving it in force. The defendants were required to bear the costs of their appellate proceedings, with one defendant additionally liable for special costs arising from the adhesion procedure and the necessary expenses of the adhesion claimants incurred during the revision phase. The dispute concerned the alleged legal errors raised by the defendants against their criminal conviction, but the review found no prejudicial legal error warranting a reversal. The decisive outcome rested on the strict standard for criminal revision, where the appeal fails if the re-examination of the record does not reveal a substantive violation of law to the detriment of the accused.