The Federal Court of Justice (BGH) will add a new criminal senate because of overload in the summer of 2026. Chairman of the third criminal senate, Jürgen Schäfer, told the “Frankfurter Rundschau” that, from 1 July 2026, the BGH will have a seventh criminal senate.
In recent years the number of appeals has risen sharply. While an average of 3,100 convictions were appealed each year in the past, 2024 saw more than 3,700 appeals. Schäfer expects over 3,900 entries in 2025. The criminal senates must absorb a 26 % increase, whereas the civil senates are experiencing a significant decline in cases – a trend that prompted the creation of the new senate.
Unlike the main seat in Karlsruhe, the new seventh criminal senate will be located in Leipzig. This follows the “Rutschklausel” agreed at German reunification in 1990, which stipulated that both the Federal Constitutional Court and the BGH retain Karlsruhe, but all new criminal senates must be based in Leipzig. The fifth senate was the only eastern one at that time; the sixth senate was established in 2020, and the seventh will now begin its work there.
A change in the judiciary is also planned. Besides the chairman, six judges currently assigned to civil cases are expected to join the new senate.
