BGH confirms conviction for incitement of the people by online videos

The Regional Court of Munich II sentenced the accused to a total prison sentence of three years and two months for incitement of the people in eleven cases and for using the license plates of unconstitutional organizations. Another was sentenced to a total of 10 months in prison for incitement to the people in four cases. In response to the defendants’ revisions, the 3rd Criminal Senate of the Federal Court of Justice slightly amended the guilty verdicts, which, moreover, rejected the appeals.

According to the findings of the district court, the accused produced eleven videos between January 2015 and July 2017 in which he denied the genocide of European Jews during the Nazi era. In most cases, he also incited hatred against Jews, and in some videos hatred of refugees. He himself posted ten of the videos on the Internet, and made a video available to an accomplice for this purpose. The defendant participated in several cases in the production of the videos, also denying the Holocaust and inciting hatred against Jews in one case.

Both defendants have appealed for a breach of formal and substantive law. The review by the 3rd Senate only led to minor changes in the guilty verdicts, because the district court did not in every case have judged the relationship in which the individual violations of the law relate to each other without error of law. However, the sentences remain unaffected and do not in turn have any error of law. The proceedings before the Regional Court have been brought without objection.

The judgment is therefore final.

Author: Marian Härtel

Marian Härtel ist Rechtsanwalt und Fachanwalt für IT-Recht mit einer über 25-jährigen Erfahrung als Unternehmer und Berater in den Bereichen Games, E-Sport, Blockchain, SaaS und Künstliche Intelligenz. Seine Beratungsschwerpunkte umfassen neben dem IT-Recht insbesondere das Urheberrecht, Medienrecht sowie Wettbewerbsrecht. Er betreut schwerpunktmäßig Start-ups, Agenturen und Influencer, die er in strategischen Fragen, komplexen Vertragsangelegenheiten sowie bei Investitionsprojekten begleitet. Dabei zeichnet sich seine Beratung durch einen interdisziplinären Ansatz aus, der juristische Expertise und langjährige unternehmerische Erfahrung miteinander verbindet. Ziel seiner Tätigkeit ist stets, Mandanten praxisorientierte Lösungen anzubieten und rechtlich fundierte Unterstützung bei der Umsetzung innovativer Geschäftsmodelle zu gewährleisten.