diff --git a/Changes b/Changes
index fbede7d..dfd1dc6 100644
--- a/Changes
+++ b/Changes
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-0.59.0 2019-11-27
+0.59.0 2019-11-28
     - [bugfix] Fix offset retrieval in concurrent searches
       (diewald)
     - [cleanup] Removed deprecated numberOf() method from index
@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@
       & libraries (margaretha)
     - [feature] Support for vector representation of terms in KoralQuery
       (diewald)
+    - [bugfix] Check regex for validity before querying
+      (diewald)
 
 0.58.7 2019-09-16
     - [bugfix] Fix the behaviour of negative operands in virtual
diff --git a/src/main/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/KrillQuery.java b/src/main/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/KrillQuery.java
index 791a15b..f6f1c74 100644
--- a/src/main/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/KrillQuery.java
+++ b/src/main/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/KrillQuery.java
@@ -1288,8 +1288,17 @@
                         if (v.matches("^[si]:\\.[\\+\\*]\\??$")) {
                             return new SpanRepetitionQueryWrapper();
                         };
+
+                        SpanRegexQueryWrapper srqw = qb.re(v, isCaseInsensitive);
+
+                        if (srqw.error != null) {
+                            throw new QueryException(
+                                StatusCodes.INVALID_QUERY,
+                                "Invalid regex"
+                                );
+                        };
                         
-                        saqw.or(qb.re(v, isCaseInsensitive));
+                        saqw.or(srqw);
                     };
 
 					if (match.equals("match:ne")) {
diff --git a/src/main/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/query/wrap/SpanRegexQueryWrapper.java b/src/main/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/query/wrap/SpanRegexQueryWrapper.java
index a3ed45a..9f777c0 100644
--- a/src/main/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/query/wrap/SpanRegexQueryWrapper.java
+++ b/src/main/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/query/wrap/SpanRegexQueryWrapper.java
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@
 
 public class SpanRegexQueryWrapper extends SpanQueryWrapper {
     private SpanQuery query;
-
+    public String error = null;
 
     public SpanRegexQueryWrapper (String field, String re) {
         this(field, re, RegExp.ALL, false);
@@ -38,11 +38,18 @@
             };
             re = re.toLowerCase();
         };
-        RegexpQuery requery = new RegexpQuery(new Term(field, re), flags);
-        query = new SpanMultiTermQueryWrapper<RegexpQuery>(requery);
 
+        try {
+            RegexpQuery requery = new RegexpQuery(new Term(field, re), flags);
+            query = new SpanMultiTermQueryWrapper<RegexpQuery>(requery);
+        } catch (Exception e) {
+            this.error = e.getLocalizedMessage();
+        }
     };
 
+    public SpanRegexQueryWrapper (RegexpQuery requery) {
+        query = new SpanMultiTermQueryWrapper<RegexpQuery>(requery);
+    };    
 
     public SpanQuery toFragmentQuery () {
         return this.query;
diff --git a/src/test/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/query/TestKrillQueryJSON.java b/src/test/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/query/TestKrillQueryJSON.java
index b4bcf5c..5c6c565 100644
--- a/src/test/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/query/TestKrillQueryJSON.java
+++ b/src/test/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/query/TestKrillQueryJSON.java
@@ -694,6 +694,22 @@
                 "focus(254: spanContain(<tokens:base/s:t />, {254: spanExpansion(tokens:s:der, []{1, 1}, right)}))");
     };
 
+    @Test
+    public void queryJSONregexFail () {
+        // "Leserin.{,3}"
+        String json = getJsonString(getClass()
+                .getResource("/queries/segment/regex-simple.jsonld")
+                .getFile());
+        KrillQuery kq = new KrillQuery("tokens");
+
+        try {
+            String res = kq.fromKoral(json).toQuery().toString();
+            fail("Regex not expected to work");
+        }
+        catch (QueryException e) {
+        };
+    };
+    
 
     @Test
     public void queryJSONregexVectorRewrite () throws QueryException {
diff --git a/src/test/resources/queries/segment/regex-simple.jsonld b/src/test/resources/queries/segment/regex-simple.jsonld
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b87131b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/resources/queries/segment/regex-simple.jsonld
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+{
+  "query":{
+    "@type":"koral:token",
+    "wrap":{
+      "@type":"koral:term",
+      "match":"match:eq",
+      "type":"type:regex",
+      "layer":"orth",
+      "key":"Leserin.{,3}"
+    }
+  },
+  "@context":"http://korap.ids-mannheim.de/ns/koral/0.3/context.jsonld"
+}