Volksverhetzung


Volksverhetzung, in English "incitement to hatred", "incitement of popular hatred", "incitement of the masses", or "instigation of the people", is a concept in German criminal law that refers to incitement to hatred against segments of the population and refers to calls for violent or arbitrary measures against them, including assaults against the human dignity of others by insulting, maliciously maligning, or defaming segments of the population.
It is often applied to, though not limited to, trials relating to Holocaust denial in Germany. The criminal code Chapter 7, Paragraph 130 of the Federal Republic of Germany defines when a person is guilty of Volksverhetzung.

Constituent elements

Incitement of the People is defined by § 130 Section 1 of the Criminal Code:

Section 1

On 21 January 2015, changes to the former text of § 130 Sections 2 and 5, with Section 6 becoming Section 7, took effect following European parliament amendments. At present these changes are not reflected in the as updated in the .

Substantiation

Although freedom of speech is mentioned by Article 5 of the Basic Law, said article basically protects any non-outlawed speech. Restrictions exist, e.g. against personal insults, use of symbols of unconstitutional organizations, or Volksverhetzung. For any hate speech to be punishable as Volksverhetzung, the law requires that said speech be "qualified for disturbing public peace" either by inciting "hatred against parts of the populace" or calling for "acts of violence or despotism against them", or by attacking "the human dignity of others by reviling, maliciously making contemptible or slandering parts of the populace". "Germany places strict limits on speech and expression when it comes to right-wing extremism" or anything reminiscent of Nazism. Hate speech on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity also is banned in Germany.

Application to offences committed abroad

Offences contrary to § 130 of the Criminal Code committed abroad, whether by German nationals or foreigners, can be pursued as a domestic crime when they so act as if they had been committed within the country, affecting the public peace in Germany and violating the human dignity of German citizens. It is sufficient, for example, that criminal content on the Internet, for example in the form of a HTML page, can be accessed from Germany. Hence, for example, the jurisdiction of German courts can be applied for offences of sedition committed abroad. Such an example was the conviction of the Holocaust denier Ernst Zündel by the District Court of Mannheim in February 2007, who was convicted of inciting propaganda he had published from the US and Canada on the Internet.

History

Historically, the Karlsbader Beschlüsse of the German Confederation under Austria and led by Metternich included democratic ideals as well as agitation for one, unified German state as Volksverhetzung.

Similar laws in other countries

Similar laws exist around the world, some examples of which are mentioned below.
  • In Austria, Verhetzung is a criminal offense with similar legal elements under section 283 of the Penal Code.
  • In the UK, incitement to ethnic or racial hatred is a criminal offense under Sections 17–29 of the Public Order Act 1986.
  • In Ireland, the corresponding law is the Prohibition of Incitement to Hatred Act.
  • A similar law exists in Sweden as hets mot folkgrupp, second section 16th chapter 8§ of the criminal code.
  • The Criminal Code of Finland, in the sections 3 and 4 of chapter 11, includes a similar law, which calls the crime kiihottaminen kansanryhmää vastaan in the Finnish version and hets mot folkgrupp in the Swedish version, both meaning "incitement against ethnic groups".
  • The Russian Criminal Code, in its 282nd article, refers to actions aimed at inciting ethnic or racial hatred. Moreover, §2 of Article 29 of the Russian Constitution disallows and bans "propaganda or agitation" that instigates "hatred and strife" of a "social, racial, national or religious" nature, or promotes the supremacy of a social class, race, nationality, religion, or language variety.
  • In Uruguay, the Penal Code, in article 149-BIS, titled "Incitement to hatred, contempt or violence towards certain persons", condemns incitement or acts of violence and/or contempt against one or more persons on the grounds of race, skin color, religion, national or ethnic origin, sexual orientation or gender identity.
  • In the U.S., there is no direct legal equivalent due to the strong protections of free speech under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. However, some U.S. laws address aspects of speech that incite violence or pose a direct threat, including: