Saxony-Anhalt: SPD interior expert calls dealing with hatred on the Internet disturbing

Magdeburg (dpa/sa) - The domestic political spokesman for the SPD parliamentary group, Rüdiger Erben, described the results of a ZDF research on the police procedure when reporting hate messages as "particularly disturbing".

Saxony-Anhalt: SPD interior expert calls dealing with hatred on the Internet disturbing

Magdeburg (dpa/sa) - The domestic political spokesman for the SPD parliamentary group, Rüdiger Erben, described the results of a ZDF research on the police procedure when reporting hate messages as "particularly disturbing". The police officer's behavior "disgraced us nationwide," Erben explained on Sunday.

As the satirist Jan Böhmermann reported in the latest episode of "ZDF Magazin Royale", 16 people had submitted the same seven hate comments from the Internet to police departments in all federal states in August 2021. According to the Magdeburg Police Inspectorate on Saturday, "a criminal complaint was not received at the time". In the meantime, internal investigations are being carried out against the police officer at the Magdeburg police station on suspicion of thwarting criminal prosecution, it said.

"For years, the ministry has been talking about crime shifting to the Internet," said Erben. "But the identification of this development is not enough, it requires the necessary determinations in every department." He expects Interior Minister Tamara Zieschang (CDU) to carry out a comprehensive review of the individual case. According to Erben, he has requested that the topic be placed on the agenda of the next meeting of the state parliament's interior committee.