Surprising death of Justice Minister Herbert Mertin: Rhineland-Palatinate in grief

incident

death
Ort	Koblenz

Herbert Mertin, the former Rhineland-Palatinate Minister of Justice, died surprisingly in Koblenz on Friday. Mertin, who was 66, collapsed for volunteer judges during a ceremony and was then taken to the hospital, where he died. This reported swr .

The politician, born on April 29, 1958 in Temuco, Chile, came to Germany with his family at the age of 13, where they settled in Rhineland-Palatinate. Mertin graduated from Abitur at the Martinus-Gymnasium in Linz am Rhein and studied law at the universities in Mainz and Bonn. After completing his studies, he worked as a lawyer in Koblenz after completing his second state examination in 1988.

political career

Mertin started his political career with the FDP in 1983. He was elected to the Rhineland-Palatinate state parliament in 1996 and initially acted as Minister of Justice from 1999 to 2006. In this function he was known for his commitment to civil rights and an independent judiciary. However, there were conflicts with the then head of government Kurt Beck (SPD) with regard to the occupation of judge posts. He gave up his ministerial office in May 2006 after the FDP had a significant defeat in the state election.

After retiring from politics, Mertin returned to Koblenz in 2011 as a lawyer after the FDP had not overcome the five percent hurdle. In 2016 Mertin was again appointed Minister of Justice, this time in the first traffic light coalition under Malu Dreyer (SPD). During his second term, he campaigned for a rapid withdrawal of fundamental rights interventions during the Corona pandemic.

Review and legacy

The traffic light coalition was confirmed in the state election in March 2021, and Mertin remained in office. In addition to his role as a minister, he was also the group leader of the FDP parliamentary group in the state parliament between 2006 and 2011. From 2012 to 2016 he was a member of the German Ethics Council and the Presidium member of the Society for Legal Policy. Mertin leaves his wife and four adult sons.

his death leaves a gap in Rhineland-Palatinate politics, and his commitment to the judiciary will be remembered in the coming years. Mertin is perceived as an outstanding personality in the political landscape that has always campaigned for the rights of citizens and the independence of the judiciary. Further information about his political career can be read on the page of wikipedia