Persons who do not understand or have difficulty understanding German are entitled to assistance in communicating. And even before the court stage: From the moment a criminal complaint is filed, the police or the public prosecutor’s office will provide assistance so that the person filing it can understand everything correctly and to ensure that everything is recorded properly. You will be provided with written confirmation of the criminal complaint in your language upon request.

In court
If a person is examined as a witness in court, he or she is assisted by an interpreter. Persons affected by criminal offences who join the proceedings as private accessory prosecutors can request translations of further documents from the files free of charge. A precondition for this is that they actually need such documents in order to be able to exercise their rights during trial. This could happen, for example, if the case is discontinued because there is insufficient evidence. In this case, the notice of discontinuance of proceedings is translated upon request in order to enable the person affected to consider whether to file a complaint against it or not.

Further information can be found in „I am the victim of a crime. What are my rights?“.