Reinstatement of appeal deadline after supplement of abridged criminal judgment reasons

The Federal Court of Justice (BGH), 5th Criminal Senate, granted the defendant’s request for reinstatement to the status before the expiration of the deadline to file an appeal against the Berlin Regional Court’s judgment of February 8, 2024, ruling in favor of the defendant at no additional cost to the court. The dispute involved a procedural request to restore the right to challenge the lower court’s criminal conviction, specifically addressing the impact of abridged judgment reasons on the applicable deadlines. The court applied § 267(4) sentence 4 and § 275(1) sentence 2 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (StPO) to clarify that the deadline for supplementing abridged reasons begins upon the court’s receipt of the file, and pursuant to § 345(1) sentence 3 StPO, established that the deadline for substantiating the appeal starts only upon service of the supplemented judgment, thereby ensuring the defendant’s procedural rights are protected.