Spain: Convicted Authority Maintains Retirement Benefits

In a surprising turn of events, a retired German civil servant, born in 1975 in Saxony-Anhalt, has managed to maintain his pension despite being convicted of a double murder and attempted murder in Spain. The crimes, which took place in April 2019 on the Spanish island of Tenerife, resulted in the death of his estranged wife and their older son.

The man, who had been a civil servant since 2002 and was in early retirement since 2011 due to permanent disability, was initially investigated in Germany for violations of the principles of the free democratic basic order. However, his private-motive crimes were found not to constitute a breach of these principles, and his pension was not revoked under German law, which prevents pension loss unless convicted by a German court for such violations.

The Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig ruled that the man's pension could only be revoked if he was convicted by a German court. In Spain, however, the man was sentenced to life imprisonment and additional terms of 23 and 16 years by a Spanish court in February 2022. His life sentence was handed down by a Spanish court, not a German one.

Representatives of the Federal Employment Agency considered the murder of the man's wife to be a gender-specific crime, or feminicide. They argued that the man's actions violated human rights and the principles of the free democratic basic order. However, the Federal Administrative Court dismissed a disciplinary complaint by the Federal Employment Agency seeking to revoke the man's pension.

The Senate emphasized that the term "feminicide" is not defined in German law. Despite this, the man's lawyer stated that his client had paid compensation of around 300,000 euros to the surviving son and the woman's heirs.

Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of this case is the survival of the man's younger son, who was only 7 years old at the time of the incident. He managed to escape from the isolated cave where the incident occurred.

The Spanish court did not classify the crime as feminicide, a classification that would have potentially carried different legal implications. In Spain, a life sentence can be reviewed after a minimum of 25 years. The outcome of the man's appeal or any further legal proceedings remains to be seen.