GÄFGEN v. GERMANY JUDGMENT 3 There appeared before the Court: (a) for the Government Ms A. WITTLING-VOGEL, Ministerialdirigentin, Federal Ministry of Justice, Mr J.A. FROWEIN, Director (emeritus) of the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, Mr M. BORNMANN, Public Prosecutor, Mr J. KOCH, District Court Judge, (b) for the applicant Mr M. HEUCHEMER, lawyer, Mr D. SCHMITZ, lawyer, Mr B. VON BECKER, lawyer, Mr J. SCHULZ-TORNAU, lawyer, Mr S. STRÖHM, Mr M. BOLSINGER, Agent, Counsel, Advisers; Counsel, Advisers, Assistants. The Court heard addresses by Mr Heuchemer and Mr Frowein as well as their replies to questions put by the Court. THE FACTS I. THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CASE 9. The applicant was born in 1975 and is currently detained in Schwalmstadt Prison, Germany. A. The kidnapping of J. and the police investigation 10. J. was the youngest son of a banking family in Frankfurt am Main. He got to know the applicant, a law student, as an acquaintance of his sister. 11. On 27 September 2002 the applicant lured J., aged 11, into his flat in Frankfurt am Main by pretending that the child’s sister had left a jacket there. He then killed the boy by suffocating him. 12. Subsequently, the applicant deposited a ransom note at J.’s parents’ place of residence stating that J. had been kidnapped and demanding one million euros. The note further stated that if the kidnappers received the ransom and managed to leave the country, then the child’s parents would see their son again. The applicant then drove to a pond located on a private