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Berlin (dpa) - According to plans by the Federal Ministry of Justice, victims of stalking should have better legal control against their tormentors in the future.
"My aim is to simplify the prosecution of stalking acts so that the perpetrators do not get away with clear boundaries," said Justice Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) of the "Stuttgarter Zeitung" and the "Stuttgarter Nachrichten".
Harassment on the net should also be punishable in the future.
The cabinet is due today to adopt a report from the ministry on the possible need for reform in the current anti-stalking rules.
The report, which is available to the German Press Agency, recommends lower legal hurdles for a conviction for stalking and a partial tightening of the sentence.
Initially, the portal "The Pioneer" reported on it.
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According to the report, the wording in the law, in particular, that only "persistent" stalking is criminally relevant, has practical application problems for the courts.
The term should be checked and replaced by "repeated".
Furthermore, the penalty for particularly serious cases of stalking could be increased from up to three to up to five years, as the report shows.
So far, this only applies to cases in which the life and health of the victim or his relatives were put at risk.
In the future, this could also be used in cases of particularly protracted re-enactments or violations of contact bans.
The anti-stalking legislation was last amended in 2017.
At that time it was determined that not only the actual impairment of the life of the victims is punishable - but also behavior that is “objectively suitable” for causing serious impairment.
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