- The journalist and media consultant Hansi Voigt described the National Councilor and Aargau SVP President Andreas Glarner as a “Gaga right-wing extremist” in a tweet.
- The public prosecutor’s office ordered Voigt to pay a fine and a conditional fine. He was guilty of insults and slander.
- The Bremgarten district court has now acquitted Voigt. According to the reasons for the judgment, the designation is not objectionable under criminal law.
- “Extremist” describes Glarner as a politician and his political appearance, while “right-wing” places him in the political spectrum. The term does not refer to his honor as a human being.
- The district court’s ruling is not yet final. Glarner announced that he would take the verdict to the cantonal higher court.
The Aargau politician Andreas Glarner reported the Zurich journalist Hansi Voigt. He called him a “Gaga right-wing extremist” on Twitter (now X) in December 2022. The public prosecutor’s office sentenced Voigt to a conditional fine of 8,000 francs and a 1,000 franc fine. Voigt objected to the penalty order.
The Bremgarten district court has now ruled that Voigt’s statement on Twitter was “not objectionable under criminal law” in the present case. The term “extremism” is inconsistent and does not describe a specific political view, according to the summary of the oral reasons for the judgment. The term describes Andreas Glarner “in a political discourse as a politician based on his political appearance”.
Part of the political discourse
The location as “right-wing” is the assignment within the political spectrum and a style. This classification is “part of a political discourse to which the scope of protection of criminal law does not fundamentally extend.”
Violations of honor in political disputes should only be accepted with great caution. Exaggerations and sharp formulations are the order of the day.
Only when someone is degraded not as a politician, but in their honor as a human being, is it at best criminally relevant. This is not the case in the present case.
According to the court, it must be permissible to attribute someone a suitable political opinion – especially for media professionals like Hansi Vogt. From a criminal law perspective, Andreas Glarner has to accept the label “Gaga right-wing extremist”.
Glarner does not accept the verdict
In his first reaction after the hearing, Glarner was surprised by the verdict. “I believe this judgment will still be corrected.” He does not accept the verdict of a “provincial criminal court with an obviously left-wing judge.”
Hansi Voigt was pleased with the “very clear verdict”. He noted it with satisfaction. He believes it is very important that the terms have now been clarified by a court. And he emphasized that with his title he was referring to Andreas Glarner’s political work and not to him as a person. Voigt is, among other things, president of the “Netzcourage” association, which campaigns against hate on the Internet.