Authored by John Rosenthal via The Daily Sceptic,
A German doctor who rose to prominence during the Covid period for his criticism of the Covid-response measures has been arrested in Berlin in connection with "insults" of Berlin's outgoing Mayor Kai Wegner. Paul Brandenburg, who has several social media channels and a podcast, has previously been the target of numerous other German speech-crime investigations and charges. Although a native Berliner, he presently lives in Switzerland. He was arrested at Berlin's Willy Brandt airport last Wednesday in the company of his 10 year-old child. According to his lawyer Markus Haintz, he was travelling with the child, who still lives in Berlin.
"Insults" are a crime under Section 185 of the German Criminal Code. Under Section 188 of the Criminal Code, Germany's so-called lèse-majesté law, public officials like Wegner enjoy heightened protection against "insults" as well as against "malicious gossip" and defamation, which is treated as a crime not a tort.
According to Haintz, Brandenburg is being investigated in connection with four charges of simple "insults" of Wegner and two charges of defamation under the lèse-majesté law.
Although German speech crime charges rarely result in arrests, the Berlin public prosecutor's office told the German alternative media outlet Apollo News that B
