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"Andy, you're such a dick, resign": Poster at the Rote Flora in the Schanzenviertel (October 2021)
Photo: Bodo Marks / dpa
A search of the apartment in the course of the so-called Pimmelgate affair in Hamburg was unlawful.
The Hamburg Regional Court decided that, the Hanseatic Higher Regional Court told SPIEGEL.
Last year, a man wrote to Hamburg's Senator for the Interior, Andy Grote (SPD), on Twitter: "You're such a dick".
The politician had previously described people who celebrated in the Schanzenviertel despite Corona as “stupid” and their behavior as “ignorant” – although he himself had to pay a fine of 1,000 euros at the beginning of the pandemic for disregarding the Corona rules.
Grote filed a criminal complaint, and in September 2021 the public prosecutor had the apartment of the alleged author of the tweet searched.
According to media reports at the time, only the man's former partner arrived there.
The latter lodged a complaint – and was now right.
This measure was "disproportionate considering the low severity of the alleged insult against the accused," the court said.
In addition, the comment of the former accused should be considered in the overall context of the behavior of the interior senator.
At most, the man was threatened with a small fine.
In the meantime, the investigation against him has been discontinued due to a lack of public interest in criminal prosecution, the portal "Legal Tribune Online" reported.
