Overview
- Spahn, who leads the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, proposes abolishing Section 188 of the Criminal Code covering insults, defamation, and slander against persons in political life.
- Section 188 was expanded in April 2021 under a law targeting right-wing extremism and hate crime, enabling prosecution without a complaint from the injured person.
- Spahn argues the provision appears to grant the powerful a special right and maintains that the general offense of insult applies to everyone.
- Individual prosecutor offices report at least about 1,300 Section 188 procedures over the past three years, though nationwide statistics remain incomplete.
- A 2024 case drew attention to the law when a man faced a house search after sharing a meme calling then-economy minister Robert Habeck a “Schwachkopf.”