Kramer, D., "Behörden missbrauchen das Rechtsberatergesetz"

This is a extract according to Penalising and criminalizing assistance to undocumented migrants: http://www.picum.org/POLICY/Penalization.pdf of the article: Kramer, D., "Behörden missbrauchen das Rechtsberatergesetz"

The German ‘Rechtsberatersgesetz’, the law on juridical advice, is originally an anti-Semitic law dating from 1935. The law was used during the Nazi period to discriminate against Jewish lawyers. In an article on this law, Dr Helmut Kramer argues that it is nowadays abused by public institutions to deny undocumented migrants their basic rights and to render assistance to them problematic. Although most of the procedures against helpers based on this law have been suspended in the last years, many public authorities still refer to it. Kramer states that nobody is obliged to accept and obey a summons served by the police on the basis of this law. Even though it is known that the attorney general might use his/her power to serve a summons in case the ‘accused’ neglects the request to present him/herself at the police office, in reality there is no case known of an attorney general doing so. Thus this law is mainly used to intimidate refugees, migrants and their helpers.

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