""If you are a public official, you are the one who is powerful," she said. "The citizen is disempowered if you use the criminal law then to sue the citizen for criticising you. "If you are in public life, then you should be ready to accept criticism," she added. "You should be ready sometimes to accept harsh speech that is awful, but not unlawful.""
""They have generated uncertainty as to the line between protected and prohibited speech and have encouraged stigmatisation and self-censorship," she said. In one controversial case in June, a man aged in his 60s had his home searched after sharing an image on X that was insulting to the then economy minister Robert Habeck. In April, a woman was fined 600 euros (around $700) after defaming then foreign minister Annalena Baerbock as a "terrorist" in a video."
Germany has experienced a rise in hate speech, including Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, vitriolic anti-migrant and gendered attacks. Counter-measures by authorities have sometimes been inconsistent with international human rights standards, generating uncertainty about the boundary between protected and prohibited speech and encouraging stigmatisation and self-censorship. Several enforcement actions drew controversy: a man in his 60s had his home searched after sharing an insulting image on X, and a woman was fined 600 euros for defaming a foreign minister as a "terrorist". Laws allowing politicians to pursue criminal sanctions against critics risk disempowering citizens, and some regions have restricted protest slogans and used police force and charges.
Read at The Local Germany
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