Code of Criminal Procedure of the Federal Republic of Germany (1987) (excerpts related to Fair Trial (Right to a)) (English)
Section 230.[Failure of the Defendant to Appear]
(1) No main hearing shall be held against a defendant who fails to appear.
(2) If there is no sufficient excuse for the defendant's failure to appear, an order shall be made to bring him before the court, or a warrant of arrest shall be issued.
Section 231.[Defendant's Duty to be Present]
(1) A defendant who has appeared may not absent himself from the hearing. The presiding judge may take proper measures to prevent him from absenting himself; he may also have the defendant kept in custody during an interruption of the hearing.
(2) If the defendant nevertheless absents himself, or fails to appear when an interrupted main hearing is continued, the main hearing may be concluded during his absence if he was already heard on the indictment and the court does not consider his further presence to be necessary.
Section 232.[Main HearingDespitethe Defendant's Failure to Appear]
(1) The main hearing may be held in the defendant's absence if he was properly summoned and the summons referred to the fact that the hearing may take place in his absence and if only a fine up to 180 daily units, a warning with sentence reserved, a driving ban, forfeiture, confiscation, destroying or making an item unusable, or a combination thereof, is to be expected. A higher penalty or a measure of reform and prevention may not be imposed in these proceedings. Withdrawal of permission to drive shall be admissible if the defendant has been made aware of this possibility in the summons.
(2) The main hearing shall not take place without the defendant if the summons waseffectedby publication.
(3) The record of a judicial examination of the defendant shall be read out at the main hearing.
(4) A judgment given in the defendant's absence must be served on him personally, together with reasons for the judgment, if it is not served on his defense counsel pursuant to Section 145a subsection (1).
[…]Section 285.[Securing Evidence]
(1) No main hearing shall be held in respect of a person who is absent. Proceedings instituted against an absent accused shall serve the purpose of securing evidence in anticipation of his future presence in court.
[…]
(1) The court may grant safe conduct to an absent accused; it may attach conditions to such grant.
(2) Safe conduct shall entail exemption from remand detention, however, only in respect of the criminal offense for which it is granted.
(3) It shall expire if a sentence of imprisonment is imposed, or if the accused is getting ready to flee, or if he does not fulfill the conditions under which the safe conduct was granted.