Intimidation, threats and violence against politically active people such as the SPD man Ecke: According to Interior Minister Faeser, the number of such attacks has risen sharply. She wants to stop the escalation spiral.
According to Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, the number of attacks on politically active people has recently risen sharply. As she wrote in a guest article for Welt am Sonntag, 3,691 crimes were recorded against officials and elected officials as well as party representatives last year – 80 of which were violent crimes. In 2022 there were still 1,994 crimes, of which 67 were violent crimes. “Those affected are threatened, their offices are attacked, their homes are besieged, their private property is damaged or destroyed.”
Germany is currently experiencing a dangerous escalation spiral of contempt for politics and aggressiveness, complained Faeser. “We have to stop this spiral.” On Tuesday she wants to present the statistics on politically motivated crime for 2023.
Fibers: “Despicable Criminal”
The attack on European politician Matthias Ecke recently attracted particular attention – the SPD man was beaten so badly by four people in Dresden that he had to be treated in hospital. “It was the sad culmination of the large number of intimidation attempts, threats and acts of violence in recent weeks. We must show unequivocally that the constitutional state will not tolerate this violence – not against the Greens, not against AfD politicians, not against representatives of any other party.” , wrote Faeser.
The minister said the aim of the attacks was not just politics. The violence against volunteers or against police and rescue workers is also directed against the community. “The perpetrators celebrate themselves for their fight against a ‘system’ that they despise. But they are and remain blunt violent offenders, despicable criminals.” And that’s exactly how they should be prosecuted, with high investigative pressure.”
debate about Tightening of criminal law
The Ecke case sparked a discussion about better protection for politically active people and a possible tightening of criminal law. After the attack, the federal and state interior ministers advocated for this in a special meeting last week. They called on Faeser to carry an existing Bavarian Federal Council initiative for better criminal protection of charitable activities into the federal government. This means that verbal and physical attacks on politically active people should be punished more severely. In addition, the state of Saxony also wants to criminalize the new criminal offense of “political stalking” with a Federal Council initiative. After the Interior Minister meeting, Faeser announced that he would seek talks with Justice Minister Marco Buschmann.
In her article for Welt am Sonntag she emphasized that she was not interested in protecting certain groups of people better than others. “An assault is an assault and that applies equally to everyone.” But it is important, for example, to prevent threats from reaching the private doorsteps of local politicians. “Specifically tightened penalties make sense here. We are also changing the reporting law so that the private addresses of local politicians are protected.”
But even more important is greater consistency in law enforcement. “If people who are threatened have the impression that filing a criminal complaint will not achieve anything and that they will not be prosecuted, then that is devastating.”
Buschmann also sees deficits in education
Justice Minister Buschmann is also focusing on this. He appeared skeptical about the Saxon initiative in the Funke media group’s newspapers. In practice, it is more about enforcement deficits than legal deficits, explained the FDP politician. “The best criminal law is of no use if the clearance rates are low.” Then any deterrent effect would be lost, no matter how wide the penalty range is.
He still wants to take a closer look at the Saxon advance. At the same time, he warned against “giving the impression that politicians generally have to be afraid of their own people.” The impression is created that criminal law only provides incomplete protection against violent attacks. However, there are “no obvious gaps in criminal liability” when it comes to physical violence.