Germany
2026
- GOVERNMENT
- federal parliamentary republic
- CONSTITUTION
- May 23, 1949, became the constitution of unified Germany on October 3, 1990; amended several times, last in 2020
- LEGAL SYSTEM
- civil law; recognizes ICJ jurisdiction as mandatory with reservations
- LEGISLATIVE SYSTEM
- bicameral Parliament (Parlament), Federal Assembly (Bundestag) and Federal Council (Bundesrat)
- JUDICIAL SYSTEM
- Federal Court of Justice (the court is composed of 127 judges, including the court president, vice presidents, presiding judges, other judges and organized into 25 senates divided into 12 civil chambers, 5 criminal chambers, and 8 special chambers); Federal Constitutional Court or Bundesverfassungsgericht (composed of 2 senates each divided into 3 chambers, each with a president and 8 members); Federal Administrative Court; Federal Finance Court; Federal Labor Court; Federal Social Court; each of the 16 federal states or Länder has its own constitutional court and a hierarchy of ordinary (civil, criminal, family) and specialized (administrative, financial, labor, social) courts; two English-speaking commercial courts were opened at the end of 2020 in the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg: the English-speaking commercial court in Stuttgart and the English-speaking commercial court in Mannheim
RELIGIONS
Roman Catholic 26%, Protestant 23.7%, Muslim 3.6%, other 4.8%, none 41.9% (estimate 2021)
From the country
NOVEMBER 18, 2024GermanyDEATH PENALTYIRAN - German lawmakers sponsor 4 Iranian protesters on death row
Tobias B. Bacherle, Oliver Kaczmarek, Anne Monika Spallek, Lisa-Kristin Kapteinat
OCTOBER 28, 2024GermanyDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Jamshid Sharmahd executed on October 28 at an undisclosed location
A German-Iranian political prisoner kidnapped from the UAE
JULY 22, 2024BelarusDEATH PENALTYBELARUS: GERMAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR 'MERCENARY ACTIVITY'
The German Foreign Ministry confirmed on July 19, 2024 that a German national has been sentenced to death in Belarus and said Berlin was in intensive contact with authorities in Minsk over his fate.
- AUGUST 8, 2023GermanyDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Germany Intensifies Efforts To Release Jamshid Sharmahd
JULY 1, 2023GermanyDEATH PENALTYIRAN - German Party Leader Refused Visit To Condemned German-Iranian Citizen
Friedrich Merz will not meet Jamshid Sharmahd
- APRIL 26, 2023GermanyDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Jamshid Sharmahd’s death sentence confirmed by the Supreme Court
German-Iranian citizen
FEBRUARY 22, 2023GermanyDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Germany is expelling two diplomats from the Iranian embassy in Berlin
over the death sentence of Jamshid Sharmahd
- FEBRUARY 20, 2023GermanyDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Jamshid Sharmahd sentenced to death
Iranian-German dissident kidnapped from the UAE
- JANUARY 8, 2023GermanyDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Iranian Arrested In Germany On Suspicion Of Planning Terrorist Attack
MARCH 30, 2021GermanyDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Calls to release Swedish-Iranian scientist Djalali
From Sweden and Germany
SEPTEMBER 2, 2020GermanyDEATH PENALTYIRAN - The German Judges Association has awarded its Human Rights Prize to Nasrin Sotoudeh
IRAN - The German Judges Association has awarded its Human Rights Prize to Nasrin Sotoudeh
- JANUARY 1, 2020GermanyDEATH PENALTY
The Federal Republic of Germany abolished the death penalty in 1949.
The Federal Republic of Germany abolished the death penalty in 1949.