Arrested in Berlin: before a judge by the end of the next day

Who ends up in a Berlin cell, and how it begins

The city draws a steady flow of visitors who come for clubs, festivals, football, trade fairs and demonstrations, and the arrests follow the same flow. A group of friends on a weekend away leaves a club at dawn and meets a fight in the street. A traveller is stopped at the airport or at the main station with something in a bag. A participant in a demonstration is detained when the crowd is cleared. A young Italian who has moved to the city for a job in hospitality or at a start-up is arrested in a flat after a neighbour calls the police. The cases are different, and the hours that follow are alike.

Relatives in Italy usually hear the news late and in pieces: a message from a friend, a call from a number they do not know, or a text from the person that stops in the middle. They look for this page because they cannot tell how serious it is, who holds the person, how long the police may keep them and when a judge will look at the case.

The answer is German in structure. The limit is written into the constitution and not only into the procedural code: a person detained on suspicion of an offence must be brought before a judge no later than the end of the day following the arrest. The judge then decides whether to order pre-trial detention, known as Untersuchungshaft, or to impose measures that replace it. The rest of this page explains what the family and the person can do in that short window.

Decisions to make before the judge sees the case

The window between arrest and the judge is short, and the choices made in it set the tone. Each has a price.

• Speaking to the police. The suspect is told of the right to remain silent and to consult counsel. Answering in the station, in German or in English, produces a record that the judge reads before deciding on detention. Silence can feel unfriendly, but a poorly recorded account can become the reason for detention.
• Taking the lawyer the system offers. A lawyer will be provided. The advantage is speed. The price is limited time and, often, limited experience of foreign clients. Families can name a lawyer of their choice, and Italian counsel can work with the German advocate from the start.
• Offering a replacement for detention. A judge may accept reporting duties, residence conditions, supervision, surrender of the passport or a deposit instead of detention, but needs something concrete. For a visitor the difficulty is an address, a person who will host and a way of showing that the person will return for the hearing. Preparing this takes effort, and it has to start now.
• Using an interpreter. Interpreters are provided without charge. Insist on an interpreter for any statement, even if English seems adequate.

Whatever is decided, the person should give identity details and leave the rest for counsel.

What to prepare for the hearing about detention

The judge decides on grounds fixed by statute: risk of flight, risk of interference with evidence and risk of repetition. Material that answers those grounds is the most useful thing a family can supply.

• An address in Berlin where the person can stay: a hotel booking extended for a defined period, a friend's flat with the host's written agreement, or a rental with a contract.
• Proof of ties to Italy and to a normal life: a lease, an employment contract, a letter from an employer, a student card, proof of family.
• Passport and identity card copies, with the original passport kept where it can be handed over if the judge asks for it.
• Access to funds in case a deposit is required, with the name of the bank, the available balance and the person who can authorise a transfer.
• The names, addresses and telephone numbers of people who were with the arrested person and who can describe what happened.
• Photographs and messages from the night: tickets, receipts, locations, anything that shows where the person was and with whom.
• Medical information: medication, allergies, conditions, and a doctor's letter if possible, because it affects where the person can be held.
• The name of the lawyer who has been assigned or appointed, and a note of anything that lawyer has said.

Send everything by email to the lawyer. Do not take documents to the police station yourself unless the lawyer asks.

What a Berlin arrest does to the trip, the job and the household

The trip ends where the arrest begins. Flights are missed, the hotel room is vacated or left unpaid, and a group of friends must decide whether to stay. Luggage, a phone charger, a wallet and a set of keys are in places the person cannot reach. The family in Italy has to work out how to send money, how to reach the person and how to find a place for anybody who travels to help.

Work comes next. A person employed in Berlin may lose a shift, a contract or a probationary period within days. A traveller who is expected back at work in Italy has to explain an absence that cannot yet be dated. For people in regulated jobs, such as drivers, health workers or those with a security clearance, the word arrest triggers procedures of its own. Students miss exams and deadlines.

The personal side is heavy. A person held in the Berlin system is out of reach of friends and family except through the rules of the institution. Telephone calls are limited, visits require permission and the language is German. Relatives left behind face the costs of a lawyer in another country and of travel at short notice. Think about who in the family takes calls from Germany, who speaks to the lawyer and who manages the money, so that those tasks are not done by the same exhausted person.

Questions to put to the German lawyer and to the Italian lawyer

These questions are specific to the German process and to a family at a distance.

• When exactly will the judge see the case, and can the family be told the result the same day?
• On which grounds is detention likely to be requested: flight, interference with evidence or repetition?
• What alternatives does the judge usually accept for a visitor, and what do you need from us?
• How and when can we visit, send money or deliver clothing and medicine?
• Is the case likely to go to trial in Berlin, and can the person return home between hearings?
• What will the Italian authorities learn, and could a parallel inquiry open in Italy?
• If the person is released with conditions, may he leave Germany?
• What is the German lawyer's fee, and what does a court appointment cover?
• Is a statement made at the police station read by the judge, and should we ask that it be corrected?
• If the person is released, when and how will the passport be returned?
• If the person is held, in which institution, and can the Italian consulate visit?
• Who coordinates between the German and Italian lawyers, and how often will we hear?

Ask for answers by email so that relatives who were not on the call can read them later.

Mistakes that matter in the German process

The same few errors recur, with the reason for each.

• Do not treat the opening night as a delay. The clock is short, and the preparation done in the opening hours is what the judge sees.
• Do not give a long account to the police without counsel. The judge reads it, and inconsistency is used to argue flight or interference.
• Do not rely on English alone. The record is in German, and the version in the file is what counts.
• Do not ask friends to remove items from a room or a car. That is the way to turn a friend into a suspect.
• Do not discuss the case on the phone from custody. Calls may be monitored.
• Do not post photographs from the night. Posts are read by investigators and used to build timelines.
• Do not skip a hearing after release. A missed date turns a manageable case into a flight case.
• Do not hand money to people who promise to arrange release. A deposit is paid to the court, not to an intermediary.
• Do not pay a bail broker or a fixer. Any deposit is paid to the court on the lawyer's instruction.
• Do not let a friend speak to the police on the person's behalf. Witnesses are questioned separately, and loose talk can become a statement.

When the arrest is in Berlin and the family is in Italy

The capital is far from most Italian cities in terms of language and procedure, if not in terms of travel. Flights connect many Italian cities with Berlin, and trains and roads link it with the rest of Europe. A relative can arrive the same day, but then has to find the right office, learn the visiting rules and cope with a city where nobody speaks Italian. Do not book a trip until the lawyer confirms that a visit is possible and useful.

Official acts are in German. The police record, the judge's decision and the order for detention are drafted in German, and an English summary from the lawyer is not the same as a certified translation. Ask the lawyer in Germany to send summaries in English and, when a decision matters, to obtain a translation. In court the person is entitled to an interpreter, and relatives who attend should not expect the same help.

The Italian state keeps a diplomatic mission in the capital, and its consular section is the usual contact for a national who has been arrested. It will confirm the detention, pass messages, provide lists of lawyers and interpreters and issue a replacement document. It will not take part in the defence. Which Italian office covers a particular case can depend on the city, so check the foreign ministry's website. Both countries share a time zone, so calls are easy to arrange, but weekends and public holidays slow German offices.

How the firm works alongside German counsel

Send the details to avvmassimoromano@gmail.com or by WhatsApp: the name of the person, the place and date of the arrest, the German lawyer's name if there is a lawyer, and any paper that exists. The telephone number is on this page, and messages are answered at any hour, because the German deadline does not wait for the morning.

The opening call is a chronology. The lawyer asks when and where the arrest happened, what was found, what the person said, who has been told and when the judge is expected. From the call comes a short plan: who contacts the German advocate, what documents go to the court and what the family should not say to anybody.

The firm does not replace the German lawyer, since German proceedings need a German advocate. It acts alongside, reads the file in translation, explains it to the family in English and handles the Italian side, including records, travel and any request from Germany. If the person has no German lawyer, the firm helps the family find a lawyer with experience of foreign defendants. Offices in Rome, Milan and Naples serve families in different regions. The engagement is confirmed in writing, and short written updates follow each step, including when the news is that nothing has changed.

German words on the arrest record and the detention order

These terms come from the page. Translators render them loosely, so the exact meaning helps.

• Untersuchungshaft — pre-trial detention ordered by a judge, on grounds fixed by statute.
• Flight risk — the ground that the person will not appear for trial, which is easier to argue against a visitor with no address.
• Interference with evidence — the ground that the person would influence witnesses or destroy material if released.
• Repetition — the ground that the person would commit further offences.
• Alternatives to detention — measures that replace custody, such as reporting, residence conditions, supervision and surrender of the passport.
• Reporting duty — an obligation to present oneself at a police station at set times.
• Security deposit — a sum paid into court as a pledge of appearance, which may be among the conditions.
• Constitutional limit — the rule that a judge must see the detained person by the end of the day following the arrest.

If another term appears on the record, ask the interpreter to write it down, and send it to the lawyer as it is written. German detention papers often combine several grounds in a long sentence, with compound words that interpreters shorten. Ask the lawyer to say which ground the judge relied on, because the answer decides which alternative to detention could realistically be offered.