Tag: germany

Top German Judge Says Overzealous ECHR ‘Endangers The Existence Of Western Democracies’

Hans-Jürgen Papier, Germany’s former chief justice and one of the country’s most senior legal scholars, has warned that the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) is undermining national sovereignty by creating what he called a “de facto right to immigration through the back door.”

The 82-year-old Ludwig Maximilian University professor, who led Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court at the start of Angela Merkel’s chancellorship, told The Times newspaper that a growing body of asylum case law from national courts and the ECHR in Strasbourg had created an “ever deeper reaching and ever more closely meshed agglomeration” of rulings. These, he said, were now “settling like mildew over the states’ political power to take action.”

In his view, the result has been a dramatic broadening of the right to asylum, far beyond what was originally intended under the Geneva Convention.

“The citizens expect those with political responsibility to revise the asylum policies to suit the changed circumstances. But that is in danger of failing because of the ossification of a body of law that is getting increasingly rarefied and ultimately looks irreversible to many politicians,” he said.

Papier criticized the way European courts have interpreted Articles 3 and 8 of the ECHR — the rights against inhuman treatment and to family life — to block deportations, including cases where asylum seekers could face homelessness or irregular work in other EU states.

“That simply goes too far,” he argued.

“Here, human dignity is being treated like small change and thereby robbed of its special dignified status.”

The former judge warned that the overzealous application of human rights laws by the ECHR was “generally destroying the European citizen’s trust in the capacity of their democratic institutions to act, and so at the end of the day endangering the existence of Western democracies.”

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Germany Targets X Executives in Unprecedented Criminal Probe over Refusal to Hand Over User Data in “Hate Speech” Cases

German authorities have opened a criminal investigation targeting three managers at X, accusing them of “obstruction of justice” for refusing to directly provide user data in online speech-related cases.

Two of the employees are American, and one of them is reportedly Diego de Lima Gualda, the former head of X’s operations in Brazil, who previously faced off against legal demands in his home country before resigning in April 2024.

The alleged problem for Germany is X’s policy of forwarding German requests for user data to US authorities, following procedures established under a bilateral Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT).

That treaty lays out the legal framework for cross-border data sharing, requiring requests from German prosecutors to be reviewed and processed through US legal channels before X is compelled to hand over user information.

Despite this legally grounded process, prosecutors in Göttingen have decided to treat the policy as criminal interference, marking what appears to be the first time in German legal history that social media executives are being investigated for how they respond to international legal requests.

German prosecutors have reportedly been frustrated by X’s unwillingness to grant them direct access to account data, particularly in cases involving posts that include banned symbols like swastikas or comments that authorities allege may amount to defamation.

The inability to obtain data has resulted in stalled investigations and dropped cases, including one where a post containing a swastika could not be traced to its author.

Although X restricted that post within Germany, the company declined to release identifying information.

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Seventh AfD Candidate Dead in North Rhine-Westphalia Election Campaign

The online rumour mill has been given yet more fodder following the death of a seventh AfD North Rhine-Westphalia election candidate.

Hans-Joachim Kind, a candidate in Kremenholl, has died at the age of 80 of natural causes after a long illness, Welt reported on Wednesday afternoon.

Police say there is no indication of foul play surrounding any of the now seven deaths. The deputy state chairman of the AfD in North Rhine-Westphalia, Kay Gottschalk, also said on Tuesday there was “no indication” of “murder or anything similar” and that some of the deceased had “pre-existing medical conditions.”

But following the fourth reported death, party co-chair Alice Weidel shared a social media post saying the cluster was “statistically almost impossible.”

Gottschalk did add that “we will, of course, investigate these cases with the necessary sensitivity and care.”

Despite this caution, Politico journalist Pauline von Pezold accused the AfD of “causing its voters to lose faith in our democracy” over the growing list of deaths.

Rod Dreher wrote in these pages on Tuesday: “It must be hoped that the unfortunate and statistically unlikely deaths of four politicians from a party the German government is considering outlawing were nothing more than a fluke.”

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Germany’s far-right AfD suffers series of candidate deaths ahead of local vote

As many as six candidates for Germany’s far-right AfD have died in recent weeks ahead of local elections in the big western state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Police have made clear there is no evidence of foul play in the deaths, but it means that new ballots will have to be printed and some postal voters will have to recast their ballots.

North Rhine-Westphalia has a population of 18 million and a reported 20,000 candidates will run for office in its 14 September local elections.

The number of deaths has nevertheless raised questions on social media. The state’s interior ministry has pointed out that candidates from other parties, including the Greens and Social Democrats, have also died.

The AfD became Germany’s second biggest party in February’s federal elections, spreading from its eastern heartland to areas of the west too.

The domestic spy agency classified it as a right-wing extremist organisation in May, before placing a pause on that description due to an appeal pending in court. In three eastern states, its AfD associations are still listed as extremist.

Initial reports centred on news that four of its candidates had died, and then the deaths of two reserve candidates also emerged, prompting a flurry of conspiracy theories on social media.

AfD co-leader Alice Weidel made no effort to quash the speculation, reposting a claim by retired economist Stefan Homburg that the number of candidates’ deaths was “statistically almost impossible”.

However, asked about the rumours in his party, the AfD’s number two figure in North Rhine-Westphalia, Kay Gottschalk, acknowledged on Tuesday that “what I have in front of me – but that’s just partial information – that doesn’t back up these suspicions at the moment”.

He told Politico’s Berlin Playbook Podcast that his party wanted the cases to be investigated “without immediately getting into conspiracy-theory territory”. He said they had to tread carefully with the families concerned as they had lost a family member.

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Ukraine War To Drag On With No End In Sight: Germany’s Merz

Hawkish European leaders continue to speak in terms of Cold War-era domino theory nonsense, with the assumption that Russia aims to take over European countries one by one.

This is exactly how German Chancellor Friedrich Merz sounded in telling German public broadcaster ZDF on Sunday that Ukraine has to be defended, and not compromise, or else Germany could be next to be at risk of Russian invasion. He also said on this basis that the Ukraine war is likely to drag on with no end in sight.

While he described he hasn’t lost hope of a Trump-brokered ceasefire – he said he still “harbors no illusions” and that backing Ukraine’s defense remains an “absolute priority”.

“We are trying to end it as quickly as possible. But certainly not at the price of Ukraine’s capitulation. You could end the war tomorrow if Ukraine surrendered and lost its independence,” Merz said.

“Then the next country would be at risk the day after tomorrow. And the day after that, it would be us. That is not an option,” the German chancellor continued.

This seems at least a tacit acknowledgement that it is indeed Western action which continued to fuel the proxy war and keep it going.

His assumption that the ceasefire could only be achieved if Ukraine “lost its independence” is a dubious one, given that Russia is not demanding the whole of Ukraine or to have Kiev under its control, but wants the eastern Russian-speaking territories and an absolute pledge of neutrality regarding NATO.

“I want the US to work with us as long as possible to try to solve this problem,” Merz said. But “diplomacy is not about flipping a switch overnight and then everything will be fine again,” he added.

But Merz also remarked separately last Thursday it was now “obvious” that a meeting between Zelensky would not happen. The White House has expressed concerns that the Europeans sought to thwart this all along.

The Associated Press has tallied that over the course of the war Germany has committed military support worth some 40 billion euros ($47 billion).

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Germany: Economist Thomas Vierhaus Fined €16,100 for Sarcastic X Posts

A Düsseldorf-based economist has found himself at the center of a criminal case for making sarcastic remarks online about high-profile public figures.

Thomas Vierhaus is being prosecuted under Section 185 of the German Criminal Code for three separate X posts that government officials and journalists deemed insulting.

The total fine, delivered in the form of a penalty order from the Düsseldorf District Court on August 12, amounts to €16,100.

This is part of a growing trend in Germany where speech that irritates those in power increasingly results in legal consequences.

The first incident dates back to June 2023. Katrin Göring-Eckardt, Vice President of the Bundestag and a leading figure in the Green Party, had issued an alarmist post about climate change.

She cited droughts, wildfires, and high sea temperatures as proof that the climate crisis was unfolding “with full force.” Vierhaus, unimpressed, replied that “there is indeed an extreme drought, namely in Katrin Göring-Eckardt’s head.”

This offhand remark would likely have disappeared unnoticed if not for a doctoral student who had taken it upon himself to patrol the internet.

The student filled out a criminal complaint form on Göring-Eckardt’s behalf and sent it to her. She signed and forwarded it to the police, setting off the first of several investigations into Vierhaus’s social media activity.

The second charge came after Vierhaus discovered the identity of the same doctoral student and referred to him online as a “little snitch.”

Given that the student had already been submitting complaint forms to politicians for them to sign, the label was hardly unprovoked. Nevertheless, the student filed a personal complaint and claimed insult.

A third post earned Vierhaus further legal trouble when he criticized ARD journalist Moritz Rödle on July 7, 2023.

Rödle had defended Economics Minister Robert Habeck’s decision to skip a Bundestag debate on Germany’s heating law, attending a Bundesrat session instead.

Vierhaus responded with a post calling Rödle a “nincompoop” and added, “You still have a lot to learn in order not to be constantly fooled.”

Rödle filed a complaint through Hessen gegen Hetze, a government-operated online platform that encourages users to report speech deemed hateful or offensive.

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Left-Populist German MP Demands Zelensky Testify on Nord Stream Sabotage

German politician Sahra Wagenknecht has urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to provide testimony regarding the 2022 Nord Stream pipeline explosions.

As leader of the left-wing Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), she insists on a parliamentary investigative committee to examine the incident. Her demands follow recent arrests that point to Ukrainian involvement in the sabotage.

The Nord Stream pipelines, which transported natural gas from Russia to Germany under the Baltic Sea, were damaged by explosions in September 2022.

A 49-year-old Ukrainian national was arrested in Italy on August 21, 2025, following a European arrest warrant issued by Germany.

The suspect, identified as Serhii K. in some reports, faces charges of causing an explosion, anti-constitutional sabotage, and destruction of infrastructure. He was detained while vacationing with his family in the Rimini province and is awaiting extradition to Germany.

The arrest stems from evidence linking the man to a small team that allegedly used a yacht named Andromeda to place explosives on the pipelines.

Investigators believe he coordinated the operation, which involved Ukrainian divers operating from the vessel in the Baltic Sea. Reports indicate the suspect had served in Ukraine’s military, adding a layer to the ongoing probe.

This development follows an earlier warrant in June 2024 for another Ukrainian suspect, Volodymyr Z., who reportedly fled Poland to Ukraine after authorities there failed to act on the alert.

Polish prosecutors cited issues with the suspect’s address not being registered and deferred to their internal security service. All known suspects are now believed to be in Ukraine, complicating extradition efforts.

Wagenknecht argues that the operation likely involved state backing from Ukraine and possibly the U.S. under the Biden administration.

Wagenknecht references investigative journalist Seymour Hersh’s reports, which allege U.S. complicity in the sabotage.

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Friedrich Merz, Are You Nuts?

Do you know what German Chancellor Merz did?

Amidst serious negotiations to end the bloody and destructive Ukraine war, this guy’s putting up a veritable roadblock right in front of progress.

Here’s what it is: Merz was in Washington along with several other European leaders for a Ukraine meeting with President Trump. When it came Merz’s turn to talk he expressed, “I can’t imagine that the next meeting would take place without a ceasefire.”

Clearly no one in the world with a heart would like to see the fighting go on. So at first glance a ceasefire seems like a quick fix. But Merz’s strongly spoken statement had strings. Pointedly, he wants to delay peace talks until a ceasefire takes hold.

There’s one enormous obstacle to that. There’s a strong reason why Russian President Putin would be very reluctant to accept Merz’s condition. It’s simple to understand:

Earlier in Ukraine hostilities both Germany and France achieved Putin’s agreement to a ceasefire while a negotiated a peace agreement was underway. The efforts were called the Minsk Accords.

Doesn’t that sound like what Merz is proposing now? But it turned out in an unexpected way.

After a period of ceasefire and negotiating, the German and French leaders publically admitted they had tricked Putin into the ceasefire. They confessed their real objective was not peace. It was to buy time to better equip Ukraine to fight Russia.

You may have heard the idiom, “once fooled, twice shy.” It’s a modern version of the Old English translation from Aesop’s Fables that goes, “He that hath ben ones begyled by somme other ought to kepe hym wel fro[m] the same.” That’s a position that Putin might well take with regard to Germany’s current leader. Why should he be trusted, particularly when it comes to a ceasefire?

Certainly Merz must know the background of this. He would be remiss not to understand that a ceasefire without a peace agreement might be as unattainable as the end of a rainbow. That’s what leads me to suspect that Merz must be deliberately sabotaging the peace process, as would be any other European leader who joins him in his emphatic request.

It is time to address the significant real obstacles that must be faced if a settlement of territory is to take place.

For instance, Ukrainian President Zelensky claims that his constitution is a roadblock to such a settlement. But he is only partly right.

It is true that the Ukrainian constitution does not allow him to divide territory. He also offered another roadblock in that even changing the constitution would not be a simple matter. It would require an extensive public referendum he says.

He is right on both points. But he is wrong to represent them as ultimate roadblocks or even something that would result in much delay. In the past, Ukraine, in the view of its leaders, successfully negotiated a way to deal with problematic constitutional provisions that stood in its way.

This happened when leaders found it cumbersome to remove the democratically elected Viktor Yanukovych from the presidency. Some reports claimed he was impeached. But the votes weren’t there to do that according to the constitution. Other reports claimed that he removed himself by abandoning his office when he fled for his life amidst immediate threats. But the constitution wasn’t followed there either. Nonetheless, they got rid of Yanukovych.

Here’s how they did it. The Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, simply passed a resolution. It said that the current circumstance was threatening to Ukraine, a mass violation of citizens’ rights and freedom, and a circumstance of extreme urgency. As a result they removed Yanukovych while not observing the constitution.

Now, all Ukraine has to do is to repeat that technique. Is not the current circumstance threatening to Ukraine, a mass violation of citizens’ rights and freedom, and a circumstance of extreme urgency, too?

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Neo-Nazi sent to women’s prison after changing gender

A prominent right-wing extremist who once dismissed transgender people as fascists and “parasites on society” has won permission to serve a prison sentence in a German women’s jail after formally changing gender.

Marla-Svenja Liebich, 53, who until December went by the first name Sven, was convicted of inciting hatred, criminal insults and trespassing and handed an 18-month sentence for, among other things, trying to sell a baseball bat over the internet as a “deportation aid”.

Questions are now being raised as to whether the neo-Nazi exploited a recent reform that made it significantly easier for people to alter their officially registered gender.

Under previous German law, gender reassignment required two separate supporting opinions from medical specialists. In November, however, the last government’s self-determination act reduced the threshold to simply signing a form at a local registry office.

Liebich has been a leader on the east German extreme-right scene since the Nineties, and ran the regional chapter of an explicitly Nazi organisation called Blood and Honour in Saxony-Anhalt. Blood and Honour was banned in 2000.

Liebich later organised numerous demonstrations in Halle, his native city, where the local branch of Germany’s domestic intelligence agency described Liebich’s activities as “unparalleled” across the entire country.

In recent years Liebich has campaigned energetically in support of the Putin regime and its war against Ukraine, selling the Russian ultra-nationalist “Z” symbol through his various social media channels.

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