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Cologne (dpa / lnw) - The Cologne public prosecutor's office has closed the case against a member of the Jewish community for distributing a leaflet with anti-Semitic content via Twitter.
A spokesman for the public prosecutor announced on Thursday.
The community member had distributed a photo of the flyer that appeared in a Cologne tram in the short message service to draw attention to anti-Semitism.
Thereupon the public prosecutor's office initiated preliminary investigations into the initial suspicion of sedition.
Now the authority found that the digital distribution actually fulfilled the basic criminal offense of sedition.
However, there is an exception, according to which the dissemination is not punishable if it serves "to inform citizens or to report on current affairs".
It was questionable whether this exception also applies to private individuals in social networks or only to officials and mandate holders.
In addition, a clear distancing from the content of the inflammatory pamphlet must be recognizable.
In the opinion of the public prosecutor's office, both were the case here, so they dropped the case.
The synagogue community and the Cologne Society for Christian-Jewish Cooperation had previously criticized the investigation and called for it to be stopped.
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Among other things, the mayor of Cologne, Henriette Reker (independent), shared the tweet from the community member.
Since the exception rule applies to her as a public official, no preliminary investigations have been initiated against her, the public prosecutor said.
Who prepared the anti-Semitic leaflets and displayed them on the tram is still unclear and is being investigated.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210218-99-495503 / 2