1975 January 1, 1975 Bonn

“Lex Baader-Meinhof,” or the “Baader-Meinhof Laws” become effective. These laws, which are amendments to the “Basic Law,” West Germany’s quasi-constitution, allow the courts to exclude a lawyer from defending a client merely if there is suspicion of the lawyer “forming a criminal association with the defendant.” The new laws also allow for trials to continue in the absence of a defendant if the reason for the defendant’s absence is of the defendant’s own doing; i.e. they are ill from a hunger strike.