Mich interessiert, was die Deutschen über dieses Gesetz denken. § 188 StGB besagt, dass Personen, die sich am politischen Leben beteiligen, geschützt sind (bei Verleumdungen und anderen Dingen bin ich mir nicht sicher). Halten die Deutschen das für eine gute oder eine schlechte Sache?
Um dies klarzustellen: Ich weiß nicht, inwieweit dies zutrifft, also zögern Sie nicht, mich aufzuklären, wenn ich mich irre.
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Von Affectionate_Walk_30
18 Kommentare
you are misrepresenting what the law states and the poll is stupid
Why should it be ok to insult anyone?
# Strafgesetzbuch (StGB)
# § 188 Gegen Personen des politischen Lebens gerichtete Beleidigung, üble Nachrede und Verleumdung
(1) Wird gegen eine im politischen Leben des Volkes stehende Person öffentlich, in einer Versammlung oder durch Verbreiten eines Inhalts (§ 11 Absatz 3) eine Beleidigung (§ 185) aus Beweggründen begangen, die mit der Stellung des Beleidigten im öffentlichen Leben zusammenhängen, und ist die Tat geeignet, sein öffentliches Wirken erheblich zu erschweren, so ist die Strafe Freiheitsstrafe bis zu drei Jahren oder Geldstrafe. Das politische Leben des Volkes reicht bis hin zur kommunalen Ebene.
(2) Unter den gleichen Voraussetzungen wird eine üble Nachrede (§ 186) mit Freiheitsstrafe von drei Monaten bis zu fünf Jahren und eine Verleumdung (§ 187) mit Freiheitsstrafe von sechs Monaten bis zu fünf Jahren bestraft.
The idea is to prevent people esp. those on the volunteer municipal level to be targeted for their work and beeing pushed out of politics.
I don’t consider it a good thing to treat politicians differently when it comes to verbal insults in form of memes or texts. It further worsens the already eroding trust of many in governmental institutions.
There already is a law against insulting people, this law is just a very transparent way of the ruling class to ascertain their position above the filth of the population 🤮
Insulting people in Germany is an offense in general. This particular law only applies this to further protect people who are especially exposed. I support it.
To clarify: abolishing this rule does not mean people get to insult politicians without fear of consequence. It will still be a misdemeanor as insult (Beleidigung). Sec. 188 StGB makes two important distinctions:
* The misdemeanor may be prosecuted even when the victim does not press charges (if the district attorney identifies a public interest in prosecution).
* The maximum punishment is three years in prison instead of two (however, it is extremely rare that punishments get anywhere close to this upper limit anyway).
There is a difference between Straftat and Ordnungswidrigkeit. I think this should be an Ordnungswidrigkeit in most cases, but if it is pronounced with the intention to lead a campaign against local politicians and make them quit their job, I’m fine with Straftatbestand.
Should be a civil matter.
No STGB, then no more police house raids for getting computers & mobile phones as evidence.
It’s ridiculous that insulting anybody is a crime here.
Of course it’s rude but nobody should be fined for calling someone an asshole or son of a bitch.
I don’t have an issue with the law. You must keep in mind that this isn’t about ’standard‘ insults, but rather serious, defamatory statements calculated to significantly undermine a politician’s public standing. Fabricated allegations of abuse are cited as examples. I think it’s right for such actions to be sanctioned.
However, I would generally welcome tougher laws against insults. The level of brutality we see, particularly online, never ceases to shock me. In some cases, factual discussion has vanished entirely, replaced by nothing but abuse and denunciation. Such individuals should be facing heavy fines.
Just like so many laws, this one is a relic from the old Weimar Republic, when the Nazis systematically weaponized slander, defamation, and insults to destabilize political discourse and silence opponents. The infamous § 185 StGB (Beleidigung) and § 186 StGB (üble Nachrede) were already in place then, but the Nazis exploited their vague wording to criminalize dissent under the guise of ‘protecting honor.’ Post-1945, these laws were retained, ostensibly to prevent a return to such abuses, yet their broad interpretation persists, often serving to shield powerful figures from criticism rather than fostering genuine democratic debate.
I think the law is fine in principle, as everyone should maintain some minimum standard of decorum in their public statements.
That said, I don’t think the protections necessarily need to be higher for publically exposed persons. I think a provision regarding all statements towards all people that have a public impact should enjoy these protections.
This law does not punish anything that would not be punished if regular people would be the victim. It just increases maximal prison time somewhat. The condition however is that the crime can affect their work as politicians and the insult is aimed at them in that role. It was mainly created as a response to verbal attacks and threats towards communal politicians, which often are just regular people engaged in their communities. Insults can be quite aggressive and threatening, and still remain under the bar for more severe crimes.
Stupid as fuck because we already have laws for insulting people. That does gives them extra protection which they don’t need because with the amount of money these people are making they have all the means to pursue action if someone insults them.
We all remember the great Pimmel-Event in Hamburg.
On one hand, there’s still the general law about insults, which would put politicians on one level with your average Joe – at least in that regard.
That would maybe prevent things such as Pimmelgate, for example. And I am rather opposed to politicians getting their „Extrawurst“
On the other hand, the law is designed to protect local politicians, which often have not that kind of „public interest“ behind them, like most higher politicians do.
And on the third hand, the draft bill to remove that law came from the AfD – which is already enough to make me pause and think for a moment. Why would they of all people suddenly be for some kind of equality? What is there about the law that I don’t see, that prevents them from being hateful like usual? There has to be some reason that they want to get rid of it.
I actually think this law might be vital to preserve our democracy
Just look at the US for a moment, who doesn’t seem to have such a law.
In the US, you just can’t effectively criticise the president. Not because it’s forbidden, but because in the last two decades there has been so much slander going around that any good-faith attempt to address a critical issue is just being drowned out by the noise.
A law like this is bound to keep the political discourse more civil
I will continue to insult our German parliamentary politicians as they do nothing for the working people of our country and only serve the interests of the ruling class