Martin Renner, media policy spokesman for the AfD, enters a tobacco shop in Wuppertal on February 5, 2021 - with a fabric mask. He does not comply with the request to exchange it for an FFP mask. Instead, Renner shows the finger. And now he's being sentenced for it.
The AfD member of the Bundestag Martin Renner should pay a fine of 9,000 euros for insult. The district court in Mettmann issued a penalty order for a fine of 30 daily rates of 300 euros each against Renner, confirmed court press spokesman Markus Zweigle. The daily newspaper "Die Welt" had previously reported.
The background was a dispute over a corona protective mask. Renner is accused of showing the middle finger to a saleswoman and the owner of the shop on February 5, 2021 in a shop in Haan near Wuppertal, said Zweigle. The politician is said to have been asked to wear medical mouth and nose protection in the tobacco shop beforehand. He was only wearing a cloth mask.
The penalty order against Renner is not yet final. The 68-year-old can appeal within two weeks. In that case, there would be a main hearing to clarify the allegation. The penal order had been requested by the Wuppertal public prosecutor's office. The Bundestag had lifted Renner's immunity to allow criminal proceedings.
Renner is media policy spokesman for the AfD parliamentary group. The AfD politician reported the incident to the German Press Agency in November. According to his own statements, he entered the tobacconist's shop with a Corona fabric mask and was rebuked by the owner in rude, insulting words that he had to wear an FFP2 mask.
He then threw up his arms defensively and replied that he would never enter this shop again. 14 months later, in April 2022, he received a summons from the Düsseldorf criminal police because the saleswoman had reported him. Allegedly he "showed the stinky finger". But this is not the case. Rather, he himself was insulted, Renner said.
