MP allegedly greeted a party colleague at German parliament building ‘with a heel click and a Hitler salute’

MP allegedly greeted a party colleague at German parliament building ‘with a heel click and a Hitler salute’

Berlin prosecutors say they have charged a member of the far-right Alternative für Deutschland party with making a Nazi salute in parliament.

The suspect allegedly “greeted a party colleague … at the east entrance to the Reichstag building with a heel click and a Hitler salute” in June 2023, the prosecutors said in a statement issued on Monday.

Making such a salute is illegal in Germany and is punishable by up to three years in prison.

The newspaper Bild named the politician as Matthias Moosdorf, 60, a member of parliament for Zwickau in the former East German state of Saxony.

      • partofthevoice@lemmy.zipEnglish
        11·
        11 hours ago

        Wow, my comment was really misinterpreted. Not once did I condone Nazi ideology, nor provide any form of justification or apology to their ideology. I brought up an ethics debate regarding the practicality of a law confining the movement of one’s body. I asked about the merit of perception versus reality. Calling me a Nazi apologist completely misses the forest for the trees… and those weren’t even my trees.

        I’m not a free speech absolutist. I just live in a society where a huge argument against this kind of legislation is the potential for abuse. Please forgive me for wanting to explore these concepts together, rather than hiding within my own ignorance like so many others do.

    • HarryOru@lemmy.zipEnglish
      1·
      11 hours ago

      Democracy tends to come with law systems and due process to prevent this from happening. Unlike, you know, Nazism.

    • chillhelm@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      12 hours ago

      Obligatory, I haven’t read the article.

      Well maybe start there then. Then you would know that there were several witnesses (he didn’t do it in an office in secret, but in the entrance lobby).

      You would also know that the incident happened a while ago and the parliamentary review board has already stripped him of his immunity for this case. So a group of his colleagues already determined there is sufficient evidence for such an investigation.

      If it’s so easy to slander and cause legal woes, as to say “they did a Nazi salute,

      This is true of any crime. Unless you have more than somebody’s word to go on, there won’t be any kind of investigation. Moreover, as an MP the guy enjoys parliamentary immunity unless it is specifically lifted by a committee of his colleagues (which includes members of his own party).

      would you still think these circumstances are fine if the claim of the salute were false

      Yes. If an MP is accused of any crime, this is the normal process of investigation. Wether or not the accusation is true or not is precisely the point of this investigation.

      political party member were arrested because someone disagreed with their ideology

      Not just a party member, an MP specifically. And they were not arrested, just formally charged with a crime. And it wasn’t over an agreement of ideology, but for doing a very specific thing that is well known to be illegal (with exceptions for education and art). Now, if your ideology can not be expressed without doing a Nazi salute, then I guess, yes your ideology is illegal in Germany. Wether or not that is good or not, is left as an exercise for the reader.

      What if it were a left leaning party member who received the allegation?

      Presumably the same thing would happen except any non-AfD party would immediately conduct their own internal investigation and promptly boot any member that actually did this.