The judiciary was divided on how to deal with controversial election posters that incite against the Greens. Now it is clear: an official has to pay a fine.
Because of election posters with the slogan “Hang the Greens!” the District Court of Zwickau has appointed a functionary of the right-wing extremist splinter party III. sentenced away. It found the 38-year-old guilty of incitement and imposed a fine of 4,800 euros.
Judge Frank Hoffmann said in the verdict on Friday that the election campaign was also fought with hard drums. In this case, however, a pain threshold was clearly exceeded. That would also have shown the many reactions from the population in the case. A helper of the 38-year-old was also sentenced to a fine, but it was less.
The III. In the summer of 2021, Weg drew attention to itself with these posters in Saxony and Bavaria, for example in the Vogtland and the Zwickau and Leipzig regions. In Saxony, according to the indictment, the 38-year-old, as state chairman of the party, had obtained special use permits for the attachment of election posters, attached the later objected posters himself or commissioned others to do so. Twelve locations and 23 seized posters were mentioned in court.
Justice divided on handling posters
They had also caused a stir because the judiciary had been at odds in dealing with them. According to an urgent decision by the administrative court in Chemnitz, the posters were initially allowed to remain hanging until the higher administrative court decided otherwise after a complaint. The public prosecutor’s office in Zwickau initially rejected investigations, so that the public prosecutor’s office intervened. Later, the district court did not want to open main proceedings. The public prosecutor’s office successfully appealed against this.
In Bavaria, the district court in Munich sentenced two men to six months in prison and a fine last October because of the posters. The posters were interpreted as hate speech and a call to manslaughter.
Defense plans to appeal
The District Court of Zwickau followed the application of the public prosecutor’s office with its verdict. During the process, she emphasized that the lettering clearly refers to the Bündnis 90/Die Grünen party. He violates their candidates and members in their human dignity, makes them publicly fair game and calls for violence and arbitrariness.
The defense, on the other hand, had pleaded for acquittal and emphasized that green was also the color of the III. way and the saying allows different interpretations. Also, in view of the different assessments of the judiciary in the past, criminal liability for the two accused was not apparent. When asked by the German Press Agency, lawyer Andreas Wölfel announced that he would appeal the verdict.
