Criticism of migration on Facebook: 70-year-old convicted of sedition

MÖNCHENGLADBACH. The Mönchengladbach district court has sentenced a 70-year-old man to a fine of 13,000 euros for posting on Facebook that is critical of migration. The lawyer had shown a photo of a stream of refugees on his publicly accessible Facebook page and wrote: “You can't get a plague of ants under control by building walls. You have to stop leaving the honey open."

The defendant did not speak in court on Wednesday, reported the Rheinische Post. His defense lawyer pleaded for acquittal because the entry falls under freedom of expression and his client has only expressed criticism of Germany's government policy. The public prosecutor's office "added" that the photo shows immigrant refugees and that it could also in transit.

Prosecutor: Vulnerable group scorned
The public prosecutor's office justified the indictment by saying that the Facebook post made a vulnerable group contemptuous and made a value judgment. The entry was "completely clear". Therefore, the authority had demanded a fine of 130 daily rates of 100 euros, which the court complied.

According to the Rheinischer Post, when the verdict was pronounced, the judge also responded to a subsequent declaration by the defendant in which he had stated, among other things, that refugees entering Germany were to be equated with a plague of ants. In the pleading he showed a "deepened awareness of the problem, but no remorse".

As a spokesman for the Mönchengladbach Regional Court confirmed on Friday when asked by Junge Freiheit, the judgment is not yet final. The lawyer appealed to the regional court on the day of the judgment.

Source: Junge Freiheit