German politician to pay €12,000 fine for insulting state premier

Admin I Tuesday, June 25, 2024

 

BAVARIA – A defamation case against the leader of the Bavarian state branch of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) over insulting comments about Bavaria’s state premier has been settled with a fine of €12,000 ($12,870).

The AfD’s Stephan Protschka derided Bavarian state premier Markus Söder as “Södolf” – an apparent reference to Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler – and called him a “traitor to the country” at a political event on Ash Wednesday last year.

The local public prosecutor’s office office had brought a case against Protschka, but on Tuesday agreed to drop the proceedings in exchange for Protschka’s agreement to pay the fine.

The dismissal also came after Protschka’s defence attorney made a statement to the court in which he said that the AfD politician did not intend to insult Söder but make a point in a political debate.

Protschka did not intend to make allusions to Germany’s dark Nazi era, but instead had picked up on terms used by a previous speaker, his lawyer asserted. Protschka now has until the end of August to pay the fine, said the judge.

In April, the Deggendorf district court had sentenced another speaker at the same event, the Austrian politician Gerald Grosz, to a fine of almost €15,000 for insulting Söder.

Grosz had used the same terms as Protschka to describe Söder, the leader of Bavaria’s centre-right Christian Social Union (CSU).

Grosz argued in court that his statements were satire, and he has appealed the verdict. A court spokesman said the verdict against Grosz is not yet legally binding.