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Green Vice-President Katrin Göring-Eckardt (here at a debate in the Bundestag): "Investigations are ongoing"
Photo: Wolfgang Kumm / dpa
Bundestag Vice-President Katrin Göring-Eckardt (Greens) has become the target of a macabre attempt at intimidation. As Göring-Eckardt announced on Tuesday, she had received a threatening letter with a dead animal in it the day before.
"Yesterday, my colleague in the constituency office found a letter addressed to me with insults and threats – and a dead mouse," Göring-Eckardt wrote on X, formerly Twitter. "It's disgusting," says the 57-year-old.
The Green politician thanked the "friendly police officers who were on the spot". The matter is being investigated, she said. Neither the sender nor the content of the letter is known so far. There are also numerous hate messages under the politician's post.
Last year, a 58-year-old man misquoted the Vice-President of the Bundestag on Facebook and also insulted her – and was convicted in a criminal trial. The district court in Bernkastel-Kues, Rhineland-Palatinate, found the perpetrator guilty of defamation and insulting the then Green parliamentary group leader. He was sentenced to seven months in prison on probation. He also had to bear the costs of the proceedings.
The verdict stated: "The defendant is guilty of defamation against political figures in conjunction with an insult." In the absence of a criminal record, the court suspended the sentence on probation, now the perpetrator is considered to have a criminal record.
JSO