A man in Germany has been ordered to pay a €1,800 fine for allegedly insulting Green Party MP Janosch Dahmen in the latest case of German citizens facing legal consequences for criticizing politicians online.
A year after posting a comment on social media, Daniel Kindl from Lower Saxony was slapped with a penalty order that arrived unexpectedly last week.
The charge stems from a post on X Kindl wrote on Jan. 4, 2024, in response to Dahmen’s concerns over an alleged attack on Economic Minister Robert Habeck in Schlüttsiel. The incident was later deemed exaggerated, with reports indicating that farmers had merely staged a protest over the left-wing government’s environmental policies rather than engaging in violence.
In his post, Dahmen expressed his dismay at the political climate amid a rise in civil unrest against the federal government. He wrote, “I don’t like to imagine Robert Habeck’s concerns for his family and the security authorities in the face of such situations. Such attempts to assert themselves with volume and intimidation in our democracy must stop!”
Kindl replied with, “Heul leise, du Lappen, das ist erst der Anfang” which roughly translates to, “Cry quietly, you rag, this is just the beginning.”
According to Dahmen and prosecutors, this constituted an insult, and the left-wing politician filed an official criminal complaint against Kindl on Feb. 19, 2024.
Kindl, who resides in a village near Hanover, defended his remark, stating that it was meant to express the frustrations of rural citizens over government policies impacting farmers.
Speaking to Nius, he said: “At that time, it was already known that the attack on Habeck had not happened as widely claimed by the Greens. The farmers were simply protesting and voicing their displeasure. With my tweet, I wanted to make it clear that we rural citizens will continue to stand against hostile politics in the future.”
In December — more than 10 months after the post — police contacted Kindl regarding the case. He sought legal representation and refrained from making a statement. Despite his lawyer’s request for case files, none were provided before the penalty order was issued. Kindl has vowed not to pay the fine and has escalated the matter to his legal team.
The fine consists of 30 daily rates of €60 each, plus €81 in court costs.
The case is part of a growing trend in Germany, where citizens have been fined or even imprisoned for remarks directed at political figures.
Other recent cases include a German pensioner who was fined €800 for submitting a satirical comment about Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock through the Foreign Office’s online contact form, where he jokingly claimed she had hit her head too many times against a ceiling jumping on a trampoline.
In November last year, another pensioner was arrested after retweeting a meme of Green Economy Minister Robert Habeck, which referred to him as an “idiot.” The case was recorded as a “politically motivated right-wing crime.”
A Bavarian woman who fought her initial €6,000 fine for calling Baerbock a “hollow brat” on X was acquitted late last year after nearly two years of legal proceedings.
Also recently, a civil engineer from Lower Saxony was sentenced to 30 days in jail for failing to appeal a fine he received after calling SPD politician Manuela Schwesig a “storyteller” and accusing her of spreading misinformation.
The convictions aren’t just reserved for comments against politicians, however.
German police raided the home of a 14-year-old boy in Bavaria last month after he allegedly posted the hashtag #AllesFürDeutschland (“Everything for Germany”), a phrase now deemed controversial.
Similarly, a German man who described a judge as “obviously mentally disturbed” — after the judge issued a light sentence to a Syrian who raped a 15-year-old girl — was slapped with a €5,000 fine for “insulting” the judge.
The increasing number of prosecutions has sparked concerns about freedom of expression in Germany. A November 2024 survey by pollster Insa revealed that 74 percent of Germans believe people are self-censoring out of fear of legal repercussions, with younger and right-leaning citizens particularly affected.
https://rmx.news/article/man-fined-e1800-for-insulting-german-greens-mp-on-x/