The police in Schweinfurt have raided the home of a 64-year-old pensioner for allegedly distributing a picture in which Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck was labelled a ‘’halfwit‘’. According to the news portal Nius, the public prosecutor’s office in Bamberg considers this to be an offence of incitement to hatred.
They ordered a house search, which took place on Tuesday. All mobile phones were confiscated and all rooms were searched. The order, from which Nius quotes, states: ‘At a time in the days or weeks before June 20, 2024, which cannot be specified at present, the accused published an image file using the account, which shows a portrait of the Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck with the lettering “Schwachkopf PROFESSIONAL”, which is based on the advertising image of the Schwarzkopf company, in order to defame Robert Habeck in general and make his duties as a member of the federal government more difficult.
As Habeck is a public figure, there is also a ‘public interest’ in the prosecution. The person concerned told the internet portal Nius that he could never have imagined ‘that it would ever come to this’. This had a ‘clear GDR flavour’.
This is not the first time that the Bavarian judiciary has carried out raids against government critics. The case of the entrepreneur Michael Much, among others, caused a stir throughout Germany. He had put up mocking posters on his property in Miesbach depicting Habeck, the then Green Party leader Ricarda Lang and Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir alongside the slogan ‘We’ll destroy everything’.
The public prosecutor’s office also searched his home and confiscated the posters. A public prosecutor who is actually responsible for combating organised crime was in charge. However, the investigating authority was dealt a bitter blow by the Miesbach district court. The court considered the posters to be a legitimate expression of opinion and dismissed the complaint.
Habeck „Schwachkopf“ genannt: Polizei stürmt Wohnung von Rentner