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Ex-member of the Bundestag Volker Beck
Photo: Jörg Carstensen / dpa
The former member of the Bundestag Volker Beck is regularly the target of bad hate comments by Attila Hildmann on Telegram.
On his channel in the Messenger app, the right-wing extremist conspiracy ideologist writes several times a month about the former member of the Bundestag and insults him with comments such as "Jewish fagot." In July 2020, Hildmann Beck also publicly threatened the death penalty at an event.
Now Beck has achieved a success against Hildmann in court: On Thursday the Berlin Regional Court issued a default judgment against Hildmann not to threaten and insult.
Among other things, it is about statements such as Hildmann had distributed on Telegram.
If Hildmann does not adhere to the court's guidelines, he could face legal detention or a fine of up to 250,000 euros, according to the judgment that SPIEGEL has received.
According to the court, the decision was made in the absence of the defendant, for whom no lawyer was also present.
The so-called default judgment is not yet final.
Hildmann could raise an objection within two weeks of delivery.
"A return to Germany would be more difficult for Attila Hildmann because of today's judgment and the declaration of discontinuance," Volker Beck told SPIEGEL.
"It could be expensive for him if he re-entered."
He thinks it is very important to take legal action against Hildmann in a case like this, Beck told SPIEGEL.
"With all these offenses in the area of hate speech, we have to argue that red lines apply on the Internet and on messengers such as Telegram."
Beck is supported in the lawsuit by the Affected Organization Hateaid: "Symbolically, such a judgment is important," said Hateaid managing director Anna-Lena von Hodenberg.
"We encourage all those affected to report crimes online, even if they take place on platforms such as Telegram."
Telegram channel from Turkey
Hildmann had at times more than 100,000 subscribers on Telegram, now there are fewer.
At the beginning of June, his channel disappeared from the Apple and Android versions of the Telegram app.
However, the channel can still be reached in other ways.
The operators of the Telegram app are known to block channels and users only in rare cases.
Just a few days ago, Hildmann was apparently unreasonable on his Telegram channel, repeated the insult against Beck and also cursed the Berlin public prosecutor's office.
This investigates against him for sedition, suspicion of public incitement to criminal offenses and resistance to law enforcement officers.
But before an arrest warrant could be executed against him, Hildmann fled to Turkey, where he is still supposed to be.
hpp / dpa
