"Old green bastard": the court finds pleading against Künast permissible

As "Drecks cunt" had a user called the Green politician Renate Künast in March on Facebook. After a decision of the Berlin district court on September 9, Künast has this and other similar attributions made on Facebook like "piece of shit", "sick in the head", "old green bastard", "mental illness", "sick woman", "bitch" , "Brain Amputee", "Special Waste", "Old Perverse Dreckssau" accept.

First, the "Berliner Morgenpost" reported on the decision. Künast had wanted to reach in court that Facebook must publish the personal data of the Facebook commentators. The court has now dismissed this claim.

The district court's decision states that it has to accept these insults because the comments were made under a post with a link to a "World" article. In this article, the question is asked, whether Künast with an interjection in the Berlin House of Representatives in 1986 trivialized sex with children.

What happened?

The Berlin CDU deputy Manfred Jewarowski then asked in the Berlin House of Representatives, as a colleague of Künast to the request that the North Rhine-Westphalian Greens would have made to lift the penalty for sexual acts against children. Renate Künast called in between: "Come on, if no violence is involved."

From the author of the post she implied that for them sex with children would be okay if no violence was involved. So he wrote it down: "Come on, if no violence is involved, sex with children is quite ok. According to "Berliner Morgenpost" the author is said to have been the right net activist Sven Liebich. Under this post the comments were made that are about to happen.

How does the court justify its decision?

The court writes:

Because the topic "with which Künast" went public many years ago due to her interjection is also in the sexual realm and has the demand of de-punishing in society that at least was not criticized by the interjection from the public's point of view. However, the board is of the opinion that the applicant as a politician has also had to accept very broadly criticized criticisms, saying that the statement itself is intended to defame the claimant without reference to the comments made in the commented post. " Insults like "Drecks cunt" moved "very close to the border of the applicant still acceptable".

Renate Künast wants to take action against the decision. In an interview with SPIEGEL, she talks about the background and makes the court serious allegations.

SPIEGEL: What do you do with the decision of the Berlin district court?

Künast: The court makes it to my impression too easy. Terms like "hazardous waste" are humiliating and shameful. Moreover, Article 1 of the Basic Law states that "the dignity of man is inviolable". Then, by definition, no human can be "special waste". To see how concise and succinct the press room is with these terms makes me stunned.

SPIEGEL: To what extent can you follow the rationale of the court?

Künast: I want to make it clear that at no time did I support the desire to decriminalize intercourse between adults and children. It was only about the clean citation of the decision from North Rhine-Westphalia. After all, I usually do not say "comma" either.

SPIEGEL: What does this decision trigger for you?

Künast: There are moments when I would like to confront these judges with the extent of these terms. Just show them what it means for you to deal with these insults on a daily basis. I expected a more critical argument of the court with the topic. This decision is not responsible to democracy - who should engage if right-wing extremists and right-wing populists are opened the door?

SPIEGEL: In your opinion, why does this decision fall into the hands of the right-wingers?

Künast: The press chamber has decided against me to make the stock data of the Facebook users accessible. They have also blocked me the civil action, which by the way takes much more honor than the criminal law much earlier. But the court apparently only appreciated the criminal aspect. That's the calculus of right-wing extremists! They hope people will not resist these insults. And if it does, that the state and the institutions do not pursue it. That's how right-wing extremism wins.

SPIEGEL: What do you recommend to other people who face daily hatred from the internet?

Künast: Actually, I recommend you to appeal. That's why I also worked with "HateAid", which help to appeal to the insults in the network. You have to talk about it - and defend yourself loudly and firmly against hatred in the net. For democracy to work, people need to get involved, in parties, in NGOs. If less and less are involved - especially women, also out of fear of hatred in the net - we endanger our democracy. The court has shown by this decision that right-wing extremists and right-wing populists can simply insult us - that is extremely weak. These judges live, as far as the problem of right-wing extremism is concerned, apparently out of time and space.