Criminal procedure: BGH upholds lower court finding that procedural delays did not constitute a constitutional violation or grounds for reversal.

The German Federal Court of Justice (BGH) Second Criminal Senate dismissed the defendants' appeals as unfounded against the Cologne Regional Court's judgment of January 22, 2025, upholding the lower court's verdict and ordering the defendants to bear the costs of the legal remedy. The case involved a criminal trial where the defendants challenged the proceedings, with the appellate review confirming that the lower court's determination that procedural delays did not constitute an unconstitutional delay in proceedings was free of legal error. The decision rests on the standard of review that a criminal appeal succeeds only if the re-examination of the judgment reveals a legal error to the detriment of the appellant, a threshold not met here despite the defendants' arguments regarding procedural timing.