A Bavarian man’s residence was raided for retweeting a picture calling Economic system Minister Robert Habeck an “fool”
German Economic system Minister Robert Habeck has pressed prices towards a 64-year-old man from Bavaria for sharing a meme calling him an fool.
Someday in June, Stefan Niehoff shared a meme that includes a photograph of Habeck with an altered emblem of a preferred shampoo model, altering it from Schwarzkopf (black head) to Schwachkopf (weak head). Police raided his residence in Decrease Franconia at daybreak on Tuesday and seized his pill.
Habeck’s attorneys have filed a prison criticism towards Niehoff, prosecutors within the city of Bamberg instructed the German information company dpa on Friday. They added that Niehoff additionally confronted prices of importing a picture to X that “referenced the Nazi period.”
The courtroom warrant had licensed a search and seizure of all of Niehoff’s cellphones, internet-enabled units and digital storage media, in keeping with paperwork obtained by the outlet Nius.
“I’m 64 years previous. I by no means imagined that it could come to this. This undoubtedly has a GDR taste,” Niehoff instructed Nius, referring to the previous East Germany.
He stated that officers of the Schweinfurt Felony Investigation Division confirmed up at his home shortly after 6am, dragged him from mattress for questioning and confiscated his pill, traumatizing his daughter – who has Down syndrome – within the course of.
Prosecutors in Bamberg have recorded Niehoff’s alleged offense as a “politically motivated right-wing crime.” Prices towards the person declare he “printed a picture” of the minister “with a view to usually defame Robert Habeck and to make it harder for him to hold out his work as a member of the federal authorities.”
The raid of Niehoff’s residence was a part of a national “day of motion towards hate postings,” during which the German police searched 50 properties and carried out 90 investigations, in keeping with Nius.
“When police are on the door, each perpetrator realizes that hate crimes have penalties,” Inside Minister Nancy Faeser posted on X, bragging in regards to the raids.
The opposition Different for Germany (AfD) occasion responded by reposting the meme on X and accusing Habeck of being a tyrant in disguise.
Während sich #Habeck als “volksnaher” Kanzlerkandidat präsentiert, werden seine Kritiker unerbittlich verfolgt. Dabei schreckt man nicht davor zurück, Hausdurchsuchungen bei schlafenden Familien durchzuführen, nur weil der Familienvater diese #Schwachkopf-Grafik teilte. Das ist… pic.twitter.com/mHdd3HBLLu
— AfD (@AfD) November 13, 2024
“That is what would occur to Germany beneath a Chancellor Habeck: the entire restriction of freedom of expression by a youngsters’s e-book writer who displayed most incompetence for 3 and a half years, however nonetheless feels known as to better issues,” wrote the AfD.
One other German posted a mash-up of the Inexperienced’s marketing campaign message (“Solely Democracy Creates Freedom”) and a photograph of police breaking down a door.
Habeck’s Greens are a part of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s collapsing “visitors gentle coalition,” having acquired 15% of the vote within the final election. Their different most notable cupboard official is Overseas Minister Annalena Baerbock.
Final week, in a video floating his candidacy for chancellor within the upcoming election, Habeck denounced the “fungus of populism” that he claimed was round Germany fueled by “authoritarian regimes with troll armies and bots.”
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