Criminal appeal challenge to lower court’s alleged failure to consider self-read evidence under Section 261 StPO

The Federal Court of Justice dismissed the defendant's appeal against the judgment of the Dresden Regional Court, leaving the conviction in force and ordering the appellant to bear the costs of the legal remedy. The dispute concerned a criminal appeal where the defendant argued that the lower court had violated its duty to exhaust evidence by failing to address the content of a note introduced into the main hearing via self-reading, a procedural step permitted under German criminal procedure. The court found the appeal unfounded, holding that the alleged violation of Section 261 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which governs the court's obligation to consider all evidence taken in the hearing, did not establish a legal error to the defendant's detriment, and therefore rejected the defense of the appeal on the merits.