Stuttgart judicial bribery trial: closing arguments begin, verdict possible today
The Stuttgart regional court hears closing arguments in a corruption trial centred on a data leak inside the public prosecutor's office, with a verdict possible later today.
Closing arguments and possible verdict
The Stuttgart regional court is set to hear closing arguments at 13:30 on 4 August 2026 in the trial of five defendants accused of operating a bribery scheme that siphoned confidential information from the city's public prosecutor's office. The presiding judge has indicated that a verdict could be delivered later the same day, bringing an end to a case that has exposed a criminal data leak inside the Baden-Württemberg judiciary.
The allegations
Two employees of the Stuttgart prosecutor's office, a chief judicial secretary and a support staff worker, are alleged to have used internal software to retrieve sensitive details from ongoing investigations and passed them to paying clients. In return, prosecutors say, the pair received cash and jewellery. Three other defendants are accused of organising the arrangement or benefiting from the leaked data. The Heilbronn public prosecutor's office, which is leading the case, has described the operation as a
and a bribery system.
Sentencing demands
The prosecution has asked the court to impose prison terms of five years and eight months for the chief judicial secretary and two and a half years for the support staff employee. Two of the other men face demands of five years and four years and ten months respectively.
- Chief judicial secretary
- 5.67 years
- Support staff employee
- 2.5 years
- Defendant 3
- 5 years
- Defendant 4
- 4.83 years
The defence team has rejected the prosecution's requests outright.
They argued that, if any punishment is warranted, suspended sentences and fines would be sufficient.
Link to attempted murder
The data leak trial is part of a wider criminal complex. In May 2024, a 23-year-old employee of a security company was shot and critically injured on a street in Tamm, near Ludwigsburg. The Heilbronn regional court later convicted the gunman, a Dutch national, of attempted contract killing and sentenced him to 14 years in prison; his accomplice received six years for aiding and abetting. The alleged instigators of that attack are the same men now sitting in the Stuttgart dock, according to the prosecution.
Admission of guilt
When the trial opened, the chief judicial secretary largely admitted the charges. His lawyer read a statement acknowledging his role in the data leak, a move that may influence the court's sentencing decision as the proceedings draw to a close.
