State prosecutor Ronald Giesch-Rahlf has so far not contributed much to the trial. According to the German court statutes, the court – including the prosecution – is required to 'establish the truth'. This means exposing all circumstances around the events under question, including finding witnesses. However, the prosecution's contributions have mostly been limited to objecting to anything the defence has asked for. The defence has been complaining about this for some time. They were the ones who tracked down potential witnesses in Somalia – only to have them rejected by the court.
One thing the prosecutor has been doing is preparing himself for a talk he will hold on 23 February at Marburg University on the subject “Piracy: the oldest international crime is facing new challenges”. Could it be that Giesch-Rahlf is focussing more on making himself a name than on the trial?
