Internet celebrity from Dachau fined for insult: “It just triggered me”

In his youth, Christian Zahner was a junkie and drug dealer.

He later became an author and real estate agent.

Most recently, however, he stood before the Dachau District Court – as a defendant.

Dachau

– Christian Zahner likes it big and loud on his social media channels.

The 42-year-old from Dachau, for example, offers his more than 70,000 followers on Instagram regular insights into his life in the fast lane: sometimes in a Bugatti, sometimes in a Ferrari, sometimes in New York, sometimes in Thailand, he always gives the cool doer and is not afraid to show his prosperity.

His "family", which he repeatedly emphasizes via Instagram, Facebook and Co., is at least as important to him as fast cars.

According to his own statement, this love was now fatal for the real estate agent who was born in Würzburg and who also wrote a book about his rise from criminal drug addict to wealthy businessman.

Last week he had to answer to the Dachau district court because in May 2022 he had massively insulted a man via Whatsapp voice messages and then posted a telephone conversation with the man on the Internet.

The insults included comparatively normal swear words such as "son of a bitch", but also contained references to sexual acts with the mother or grandmother of the man called.

Zahner explained his derailment as follows: The insulted man posted a video showing a woman being abused and beaten.

"I'm a father of three daughters myself, that just triggered me," admitted the man from Dachau.

Judge Stefan Lorenz: "Vigilante justice is always wrong!"

Magistrate Stefan Lorenz even understood that.

It was a "mess" how the woman in the video was "hit".

But that doesn't justify Zahner attacking the man so severely with two voice messages sent in quick succession and a call that he also recorded and posted online!

Instead of publishing the insult's personal data, could Zahner simply have posted a request for relevant information?

Zahner practiced vigilante justice, and according to Lorenz, it was "always wrong"!

Judgments are the job of the courts!

The 42-year-old, who last achieved national fame three years ago for calling a Smart driver driving in front of him from his Porsche on the Autobahn and more or less politely asking him to leave the fast lane, admitted that his tirade of abuse and insults was a "stupid idea".

So it made sense to him that he should be punished for it.

The only question was: How high should the penalty be?

The prosecutor assumed that Zahner, as a wealthy businessman with a 1.4 million euro home in Dachau, had a monthly income of 9,000 euros.

However, Zahner emphasized that this is far from the case at the moment;

in fact, he was “looking for work” and even relied on support from his mother.

Judge Lorenz therefore imposed a far lower fine of 6,300 euros than the public prosecutor had demanded.

Lorenz had no doubt that Zahner would be able to pay for this: the judge thought his tight budget was "just a snapshot".

Because: “You are quite skilled.

You'll find something again."