The judiciary is increasingly taking action against the relativization of the Holocaust during corona protests
The judiciary takes action against the relativization of the Holocaust during corona protests
The judiciary is taking action against opponents of the Corona policy who wear symbols during protests that put the Holocaust into perspective. The so-called “Jewish Star” with the word “unvaccinated” fulfills the criminal offense of hate speech.
Participants in corona protests repeatedly wear the “Jewish star” with the word “unvaccinated”. According to the justice ministries of several federal states, this can constitute a criminal offense of incitement to hatred. Appropriate procedures have already been initiated.
DIn several federal states, the judiciary is taking action against opponents of the Corona policy who wear the “Jewish star” with the word “unvaccinated” introduced by the Nazis as a compulsory symbol during protests. This also applies to demonstrators who wear other symbols that relativize the Holocaust, or who express themselves accordingly. Various justice ministries are convinced that such behavior can constitute an offense of sedition, as a survey by the “editorial network in Germany(“RND”/Wednesday) revealed.
“Attaching the yellow star to oneself and associating this inhuman symbol of the murder of millions of Jewish fellow citizens with one’s own vaccination status is not only in bad taste, but in my eyes also constitutes a criminal offense of hate speech,” said Bremen Justice Senator Claudia Schilling ( SPD) the “RND”. It is therefore absolutely correct “that the Bremen public prosecutor’s office generally accepts the initial suspicion of incitement to hatred and investigates accordingly”. Similar procedures have already been initiated in other countries.
The Bavarian Ministry of Justice also points out that statements comparing state corona measures with the Holocaust could be prosecuted as incitement to hatred. Together with the Ministry of the Interior, an information letter was therefore prepared for the Bavarian police associations, “in which they were asked to submit corresponding cases to the responsible public prosecutor’s office to examine the initial suspicion of a crime,” it said on “RND” request.
“Freedom of assembly is one of our constitution’s great assets. Everyone is allowed to express their opinion in Germany and demonstrate peacefully and without weapons,” said Bavaria’s Justice Minister Georg Eisenreich (CSU) to the “RND”. “There must be no place in Germany for anti-Semitism,” he added. “We have a special responsibility towards people of the Jewish faith. It is our task to recognise, name and fight the hatred of Jews in our society. That is why we are taking resolute action against it.”
The public prosecutor’s offices in Hamburg and Saxony also consider the public display of “Jewish stars” with the inscription “unvaccinated” and the dissemination of statements relating to the Holocaust to be punishable, as spokesman the “RND” announced. According to the report, the justice ministries in North Rhine-Westphalia and Hesse consider it at least obvious that the criminal offense of incitement to hatred is fulfilled in such cases. Several federal states referred to the “RND” request on the independence of the judiciary and did not want to give their own assessment.