The Federal Court of Justice (BGH) has partially overturned the verdict in the Saxon “Munition Scandal.” The court announced this decision on Wednesday.
Previously, a police officer and shooting instructor from the Mobile Operations Command of the Saxon State Criminal Police Office had been sentenced to a fine for combining embezzlement with bribery. However, the Senate rejected the appeals filed by the public prosecutor in Dresden concerning the acquittal of two other defendants-the commander and an operations officer-as well as the appeal filed by the convicted police officer.
According to the findings of the District Court of Dresden, in 2018, the commander and the shooting instructor organized training at a private shooting instructor in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. To compensate the private trainer, the instructor secretly submitted 7,000 rounds of service ammunition to him. The District Court had deliberately not convicted the shooting instructor for violating weapons law, reasoning that the transport of the ammunition was officially sanctioned.
The BGH reversed the instructor’s conviction because the District Court’s reasoning contained legal errors. It determined that the secret handover of the ammunition did not constitute an officially sanctioned duty. Consequently, the District Court must re-examine the allegations under weapons law during a second trial (Judgment of August 26, 2026 – 5 StR 401/25).
