According to the decision of the Conference of Ministers of Justice, the criminal liability for insulting politicians, as defined by law, will now apply only to local elected officials and public servants. At their spring meeting in Hamburg, the ministers approved a motion by Saxony and Baden-Württemberg that restricts Section 188 of the Criminal Code.
Until now, insults, slander, and defamation against all “persons in political life” have been punishable by law. Section 188 had been amended in 2021—in part in response to the murder of Kassel District President Walter Lübcke (CDU) two years earlier.
