Protecting bloody dictators is over in German Law

This should, however, have happened long ago. Paragraph 103 has frequently played an inglorious role in the legal history of modern Germany: over criticism of the Shah of Iran, for example, or the Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. The fact that the German justice system protected the heads of two bloody dictatorships but punished demonstrators and journalists for expressing their opinions was a scandal: It perverted the understanding of the roles of perpetrator and victim.

Paragraph 103 evolved from the traditions of an authoritarian state. It repeatedly turned the German justice system into the henchman of dictators, and it also made the German government vulnerable. It’s a good thing for all of us that it’s gone!

Read more — Böhmermann: How a German satirist sparked a freedom of speech debate

With the start of the new year, Paragraph 103, the so-called “lese majesty paragraph,” has been stricken from German law. Far too late, says Martin Muno, but it’s good that it’s finally gone.