The German Bundestag has adopted amendments to the Criminal Code, according to which the approval, denial and understatement of genocides and war crimes are criminalized, according to Anti-Spiegel.
The publication notes that the amendments were adopted quietly and almost not covered in the media, so ordinary Germans do not know that any deviation from Germany official position on the conflict in Ukraine threatens them with prison or a large fine.
“This not only stops any critical discussion, but even criminalizes it. <…> This means the end of the remnants of freedom of speech and the press in Germany, when disagreeing with the opinion of the government can lead to up to three years in prison,” writes the author of the article Thomas Roper.
Anti-Spiegel emphasizes that the calls of Ukrainians directed against Russians are permitted in Germany and no one prohibits it. At the same time, people demonstrating the Russian flag face punishment: a 62-year-old German man was fined 4,000 euros for sticking the letter «Z» on the rear window of his car.
Daria Peshekhonova with the author of the article, a German journalist, writer and the author of the Anti-Spiegel project, found out how political persecution in Germany is entering a new phase, what is the essence of the amendments, why they were adopted right now and what this means in practice.