The accused had called a foreigner "Kanake".
Created: 2022-01-20Updated: 2022-01-20 13:56
A woman from Peißenberg stood before the district court in Weilheim.
© MM
The district court dealt with a linguistic problem.
It had to be clarified whether the word "Kanake", which a woman from Peißenberg had used, was a swear word.
Peißenberg – The difference between the basic meaning of a word, known as denotation, and the additional meaning of a word, known as connotation, was dealt with in a hearing that was actually only about the sentence, after the accused had already admitted the facts.
The saleswoman from Peißenberg had described a politician as "Kanake".
The defendants' attorney pointed out that "Kanake" was originally a designation for a people living on islands near Haiwaii and therefore the word is no more offensive than calling a Sicilian a Sicilian.
Today the word refers to foreigners in general.
According to the judge, the use of the word "Kanake" in German-speaking countries is an insult. According to the defender, however, it is quite common for groups of people to be given names that have a different meaning. For example, "the team", i.e. the German national soccer team, would be referred to as "potatoes" in France. "Kanake" is a term for foreigners for the lawyer, which is in no way offensive. Since the lady to whom the designation was applied is not German, the designation is correct. The word is not comparable to "idiot", which stands for mental underperformance and is therefore derogatory.
The second point of the indictment concerned a document that the defendant had shared using a smartphone.
The document was stamped with a swastika.
The defendant also admitted this point through her lawyer.
However, he stated that the symbol of an unconstitutional organization was a small and “barely recognizable pixel”.
In addition, his client did not post the document, only shared it.
It had previously been posted by someone else.
The defendant also stated that she was at an "emotionally difficult time" because her fixed-term employment contract was not renewed due to the problematic situation in retail caused by the pandemic.
She was therefore probably "overshot the mark".
The judge acknowledged this circumstance, but saw the term "Kanake" as a disparagement, so a penalty of 40 daily rates of 25 euros was appropriate.
In addition, there would be 60 daily rates for the publication of a license plate of an unconstitutional organization.
The verdict was then for a total of 80 daily rates and the confiscation of the smartphone, whereby the accused may keep the stored private souvenir photos.
Alfred Schubert
