Spanish Convict: Maintains Post-sentence Pension Benefits

In a surprising turn of events, a German civil servant, born in 1975 in Saxony-Anhalt, has managed to retain his pension claims despite being convicted for two counts of murder in Spain.

The tragic incident occurred in April 2019, when the man lured his separated wife and their then 10 and 7-year-old sons to a remote cave on Tenerife. In the cave, the man killed the 39-year-old woman and the older son. The younger son, thankfully, managed to escape.

The representatives of the Federal Employment Agency argued that the man's actions had violated human rights and the free democratic basic order, specifically the murder of the wife being considered as gender-specific violence, or feminicide. However, a Spanish court convicted the man in February 2022 of two counts of murder and attempted murder, but did not consider the act as feminicide.

The 2nd Senate in the oral hearing stated that if the case had been tried in a German court, the pension would have been withdrawn for a deliberate crime with a prison sentence of at least two years. The Senate also highlighted that the term "feminicide" is not defined in German law.

Despite the controversy, the Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig dismissed a disciplinary complaint by the Federal Employment Agency seeking to withdraw the pension. The ruling states that for the pension to be withdrawn, a conviction by a German court is required.

Interestingly, the convicted murderer who was sentenced in Spain would otherwise have a right to a pension in the U.S. state of California. The man had been a civil servant since 2002 and had been in early retirement since 2011 due to permanent disability.

In a strange twist, the lawyer for the convicted murderer stated that his client had paid around 300,000 euros in damages to the surviving son and the relatives of the woman. This payment, however, does not alter the pension situation, as per the ruling by the Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig.

This case raises questions about the intersection of justice, pensions, and international law, particularly when crimes are committed abroad but have implications for pension rights in other countries. It serves as a reminder of the complexities involved in such situations and the need for clear and consistent legal frameworks to address them.