- No instructions from the Ministry
Protesters holding a placard against Thuringia's AfD leader Björn Höcke can still expect investigations against them. The Ministry of Justice and the General Public Prosecutor's Office have not issued any instructions to the individual public prosecutors in the state that the statement "Björn Höcke is a Nazi" should generally be classified as a value judgment and thus permissible, a spokesperson for the Thuringian Ministry of Justice told the German Press Agency. The assessment of whether a particular behavior constitutes a criminal offense must always result from an individual case examination of the specific circumstances.
Ministry cautious
This examination is initially reserved for the public prosecutors and ultimately for the courts, whose assessment the ministry does not anticipate. "The cases to be examined cannot usually be reduced to a single sentence," said the spokesperson. Instead, all accompanying circumstances must also be taken into account.
In recent months, people have repeatedly held up placards with the slogan at demonstrations or rallies against right-wing extremism. In some cases, the police then filed charges against these protesters.
Left demanded clarification
The Public Prosecutor's Office in Frankfurt am Main had assumed about a year ago that the statement was not a criminal insult, but a "fact-based value judgment".
Most recently, the Left's interior politician Katharina König-Preuss demanded that the ministry and the public prosecutor's office should clarify that these placards are not insulting in a criminal sense "and that no measures will be taken against civil society in the future." However, the ministry has now waved this off.
The Public Prosecutor's Office in Thuringia may still investigate protesters who use placards against Björn Höcke with the slogan "Björn Höcke is a Nazi," despite the Ministry of Justice's guidance. The Office of the Prosecutor must conduct an individual case examination to determine if the behavior constitutes a criminal offense, considering all accompanying circumstances.
