The Section 188 Story

 In recent days...Section 188 of the German Criminal Code has come in the news.  The general area in this section?  

"Malicious gossip and defamation in relation to persons in political life."

By political life, this pertains to a local city commissioner, or all the way to the Chancellor's position.

IF there is malicious gossip going on (degrading a person, or impacting their public 'persona')....then you've committed malicious gossip. 

A court would convene, and if guilty...you could go off for three months....but it's possible for it to be serious enough....to get you five years.  

The dividing line here?  If you make a statement that so-and-so got rich off kickbacks but there's no proof....that's malicious gossip.  If you made a Twitter comment that so-and-so is connected to Putin, but there is no factual evidence of that....that's malicious gossip. If you said that so-and-so gave special building privilege's to a company but there's zero proof/evidence....that's malicious gossip.

Why this topic comes up?  Various individuals have used social media in Germany over the past couple of years (maybe even going back to 2014 and the refugee crisis)....to hype up criticism of the government.  Some of this was general commenting, and doesn't drag you into a court.  Some of this was direct threats, and 4-star insults.  

Well....various investigations were gathered up in the past year and they've started to conduct judge-authorized raids on private German citizens.  Shocking?  These folks just kept thinking they were anonymous or the cops were never smart enough to track them.  

I should add...just for the sake of understanding the Criminal Code....that paragraph 189 is just as tricky.  If you went and insulted the dead (even Kaiser Wilhelm I or II)....it covers that situation.   If you insulted the dead guy enough (without facts), you could get up to two years in prison.  

Looking at the Code, you could even bring up a pretty harsh review of Moses, and his various failures....then criticize Moses over botched situations....without any facts, and get yourself into three months of jail.  I should note, this is just in theory....there's probably not more than five Germans alive today who go around hyping vast negativity over Moses.  

FYI, the majority of these people in the raid-target situation.....made their comments in the 2021 German federal election.  From what the general news says....around 600 Twitter/Facebook/Social Media comments are what is being reviewed by prosecutors.  My humble belief is that they will drag the crowd in....try to get some admission of guilt, and hand them a minor amount of days in jail (with a fine).  

(Footnote: I forecasted this trend back in 2017 and suggested leaving/exiting social media was probably going to be necessary to avoid police visits)