Kinowelt's Michael Koelmel will appear before Munich's District Court from today (Wednesday) to answer claims of embezzlement, delaying the filing of insolvency and bankruptcy.

According to German press reports, the indictment against the media manager runs to 343 pages and the trial documents already fill some 100 files. The trial is set to run at least until the end of July.

Koelmel is accused by the public prosecutor of causing around Euros22.8m in damages through actions including 15 counts of embezzlement. If convicted, Koelmel could face several years in prison.

Meanwhile, Koelmel's brother Rainer is in the public prosecutor office's sights, but as part of a separate investigation.

Earlier this year, Rainer Koelmel had told ScreenDaily.com that the day-to-day operations of the new Kinowelt company, which has carried on the core businesses of the insolvent Kinowelt Medien group, would not be affected by a trial against the brothers. "We get lots of calls from partners around the world asking what the situation is regarding the court case", Koelmel said, "but what is important here is that the new Kinowelt GmbH in Leipzig is run by two managers - Bertil le Claire and Ralph Koch - who are not involved in this at all."