Here's the relevant law about deliberate defamation of foreign heads of state. (Up to five years in jail OR a fine.)
https://dejure.org/gesetze/StGB/103.html
Anyone know where the section is on the government required authorization of prosecution?
https://dejure.org/gesetze/StGB/103.html
Anyone know where the section is on the government required authorization of prosecution?
Offenses under this chapter shall only be prosecuted if the Federal Republic of Germany maintains diplomatic relations with the other state, reciprocity is guaranteed and was also guaranteed at the time of the offense, a request to prosecute by the foreign government exists, and the Federal Government authorizes the prosecution.
If you can't insult political leaders, you don't have free speech. End of story. Political speech is the most important form of speech to protect.
And even if you couldn't, insults on that level are absolutely unnecessary to discuss any issue.
Then why is there a prosecution moving forward for insulting a political leader and a specific law which applies only to insulting foreign political leaders?
It is expected that there will be no punishment in this case.
In Austria you be jailed for 6 months for ridiculing religious customs or leaders, or flags and symbols of foreign states...
Whosoever insults [a foreign head of state], or, [with respect to his position, a member of a foreign government who is in Germany in his official capacity], or [a head of a foreign diplomatic mission who is accredited in the Federal territory] shall be liable to imprisonment not exceeding three years or a fine, in case of a slanderous insult to imprisonment from three months to five years.
But a symbolic fine is really unlikely. Much more important than the amount fined is the label "guilty" or "not guilty". I can't see how they would rule him guilty but resort to a token fine in that case. If the court thinks the law should not be applied, they will find a reason not to.
I just quoted the entire provision (where the wording and length is absolutely standard for a German criminal law). There are no boxes which when ticked would result in an automatic conviction. The courts have a great degree of freedom to decide their cases. (Usually they base it on older decisions by higher courts which usually spell out what criteria should be used to interpret a law.)
I'm very interested in how this plays out.