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Criminal Defense

Arrest warrant in Germany: what to do?

Lawyer for arrest warrant – arrest warrant, what to do? What can a criminal defense lawyer or attorney do in the case of an arrest warrant? It is possible that you have suddenly learned that there is an arrest warrant against you, then the obvious question is how to deal with it. We can help you if you are affected by an arrest warrant and also advise that you seek advice immediately and in any case do not do anything stupid as well.

What kind of warrant is in the world?

What to do in case of an arrest warrant: First, it should be clarified what kind of arrest warrant it is about, often the different arrest warrants are thrown together here. Elementary are arrest warrants from the area of criminal law, where there are, for example, preventive arrest warrants, but also original arrest warrants that result in pre-trial detention. A criminal defense lawyer will be helpful in classifying the content of the arrest warrant in question – the file number would be particularly helpful in any case.

If someone has been taken away by the police after a house search because of an arrest warrant, it should be obvious that an arrest warrant and thus future pre-trial detention are in question. You should immediately look for a suitable criminal defense attorney, because in case of doubt you only have a few hours before the court selects a defense attorney.

There are a variety of warrants with different effects, not only in criminal law.

Lawyer Ferner, specialist lawyer for criminal law in Germany

And yes, there is even the arrest warrant in civil law, for example if you as a debtor have not fulfilled your obligations – in practice these arrest warrants are common, but they are hardly ever actually executed.

Arrest warrant, what to do: Have it revoked?

To make a long story short: there are many ways to get rid of an arrest warrant, at least with regard to its effect. The chances of success, however, depend on the specific circumstances; in the case of a preventive arrest warrant, everything can be cleared up very quickly; an original arrest warrant according to §§112ff. StPO, which has also been issued because of the risk of absconding, will be much more difficult to settle.

Rechtsanwalt für Haftbefehl: Rechtsanwalt & Strafverteidiger Ferner in Alsdorf und Aachen hilft wenn es einen Haftbefehl gibt! Rechtsanwalt für Haftbefehl

An arrest warrant changes everything – permanently. And a chaotic approach only makes things worse in case of doubt. Let a criminal defense lawyer help you with an arrest warrant!


What can you do if a warrant exists?

The most important thing is to collect information for a lawyer for arrest warrant in an orderly manner – a file number and an associated court would be most important. By the way, you must be aware that proverbially “the clock is ticking”, any control would lead to arrest. And if you now also keep yourself hidden, you will only make things worse in case of doubt, because you will thereby concretize the possible accusation of a risk of absconding.

You must accept that the time has been reached when you can hardly get ahead on your own: A criminal defense lawyer can and will now help. He will inform you and assess the chances of success in terms of how you can perhaps avoid imprisonment. Nothing can be said about this in general; your own life circumstances as well as the accusation and other circumstances play into each other here.

I know it: Someone hears that the police were at his home and wanted to arrest him. Then they call me frantically and want to have something explained quickly on the phone. It doesn’t work like that – if an arrest warrant exists, so much has already gone wrong that you should immediately seek professional help from a criminal defense lawyer. This includes recognizing and accepting that the situation is messed up and that nothing can be saved by talking alone.
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Jens Ferner

German criminal defense lawyer

In the end, it can be explicitly a solution that one prepares an orderly standing with the police, while in the background the criminal defense lawyer clarifies with the court that immediately afterwards a detention examination takes place, whereby often already in the context of the first detention appearance at court it can be achieved that one does not even have to go to investigative detention.

The announcement of the arrest warrant

The arrest warrant must be announced in any case, because without announcement it is in the world – but you do not know exactly what it is about. For this purpose, there is the arrest performance, in which the arrest warrant will be read out to you for the first time. The appearance before the magistrate is not just a formality, but an opportunity to talk directly to the court – for example, to at least obtain a suspension of the arrest warrant.

Appeal against the arrest warrant

There are two legal remedies in Germany for challenging an existing arrest warrant, the arrest review and the arrest appeal:

  1. Detention examination, that is an oral examination appointment which takes place in principle with the court, which announced the arrest warrant. Normally, one sees here the judge(s) again who were already of the opinion at the time that a pre-trial detention would be indicated. The most important exception is when the competent district court judge announces an arrest warrant in a case that belongs to the district court, where a detention review is requested after the indictment has been filed – in this case, the district court has jurisdiction, so you will see new judges.
  2. Detention appeal, which takes place only exceptionally in an oral appointment. Here, the complaint is also filed with the original court, but then goes one instance further – so you are guaranteed to have new judges who deal with the matter, especially with a certain distance.

It should be left to the lawyer to decide which path is the right one. In any case, a hasty pursuit of the respective path should be rejected – although the client is always of the opinion that he does not belong in custody pending trial and would like immediate legal examination, he is nevertheless not served if legal remedies are filed hastily and possibly on bad ground. A factual examination makes more sense, even if this ultimately means detention pending trial, so that the grounds for detention that may actually exist can be tackled in a targeted manner. Particularly in the case of the sometimes hastily assumed grounds for detention of the danger of repetition and the danger of collusion, a little preparatory work can pave the way for a successful detention appeal.

Nevertheless, this is not an argument to act immediately in case of obviously hastily ordered pre-trial detention – in this case, the opposite is true: No day should be too long! However, the evaluation should be left to the expert and experienced criminal defense lawyer.

German Lawyer Jens Ferner (Criminal Defense & IT-Law)