Journalist in Germany imposed seven months suspended sentence for the pleasure of the Minister of Home Affairs on Social Media | Today news

In a shocking incident, a German journalist with a suspended sentence was hit after he imposed fun on the country’s home minister on social media, GBN reported on Thursday. According to the report, Deutschland Curiary editor David Gangs shared an image online in February of Nancy Faeser holding a digitally manipulated drawing reading, “I Hate Freedom of Speech.” It is later said that the Minister of Home Affairs was notified by police, and he filed a criminal complaint. During the hearing, the Bamberg District Court concluded that unbiased viewers may not admit that the photo of the original was changed. According to the report, the sentencing is the hardest ever handed to a journalist for a ‘speech crime’ in the Federal Republic of Germany. The journalist was also forced to pay a significant fine for the speech crime “against a person in political life”. In the observation, the judges ruled that gangs were guilty, because he spread a “factual allegation about the Minister of Home Affairs, Faeser, … which was not recognizable … Inauthentic”, adding that the journalist’s meme “would probably harm the public image of the public image”. Apart from fine and sentence, the presiding judge demanded that gangs write a written apology to Faeser for his social media post. Gangs to appeal: With no prior criminal convictions, gangs are expected to launch an appeal against the judgment. “We will not accept this verdict and we will fight it with all the legal means at our disposal,” GBN quoted gangs. “The Deutschland churier and I will personally continue with the fair struggle for freedom of the press and for freedom of opinion with determination, solution and consistency – for this struggle is indispensable for the survival of democracy in Germany.” The original image depicted Faeser with a sign commemorating those killed by the Nazis, and read: “We remember.” First published: 10 Apr 2025, 22:55 IST