Federal Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann has reacted skeptically to the Bundesrat initiative from Saxony to provide politicians with greater protection against intimidating attacks on their private lives. "We will take a close look at the initiative. However, I warn against creating the impression that politicians in general need to fear their own people," the FDP politician told the Funke Mediengruppe newspapers. The impression is being created that criminal law only provides incomplete protection against violent attacks. In the case of physical violence, however, there are "no obvious gaps in criminal liability".
In practice, it is more a question of deficits in enforcement than in the law, explained Buschmann. "The best criminal law is useless if the detection rates are low." Any deterrent effect would then be lost, regardless of how far the penalties go.
The core of the proposed law in Saxony is the creation of a new criminal offense of influencing public officials and elected representatives through so-called "political stalking". This is intended to protect decision-makers - especially in local authorities - from being influenced by threatening attacks on their private lives. Cases in which mayors have been intimidated and attacked for so long that they resigned are to be better recorded.
