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SIPRI Programme Director provides expertise to highest German Court

Image: the German Federal Constitutional Court building in Karlsruhe


On 15 April Dr Sibylle Bauer, co-Director of the SIPRI Dual-use and Arms Trade Control Programme, gave evidence on approaches to transparency and parliamentary scrutiny surrounding arms exports during a court hearing held at the request of the German Federal Constitutional Court.

A constitutional complaint has been issued by German Green Party parliamentarians against the German Government, regarding a deal to sell 200 German Leopard tanks to Saudi Arabia. According to The Irish Times,

The deal, never officially confirmed or denied by the federal government, has sparked controversy given Saudi Arabia’s poor human rights record. When details of the deal leaked in 2011 it was attacked as immoral by Germany's opposition parties.

The Court ruling will be announced in the coming months.

Read more about the case from the German Federal Constitutional Court (in German). Read more about the case in the German news from Finanzen or the Legal Tribune Online. Read more about the case in English on Xinhuanet.

Read the SIPRI Fact Sheet on measuring international arms transfers, which uses German arms exports as a case study.