A British man was fined 600 euros (£500) by German police after telling someone ‘I think you are a racist’.
Arthur Goldberg, 30, objected to the fine in January 2024 and is now facing prosecution in the courts for the remark.
Insulting someone is a criminal offence in Germany but Arthur argues he is protected by freedom of expression rights.
Arthur said: ‘I didn’t think anywhere in the free world you could be prosecuted for insulting somebody.
‘I don’t want to be constantly scared if I say the wrong thing.’
Arthur, who moved to Germany over four years ago, told an employee of Leipzig University ‘I think you are racist’ during a meeting about applying for a masters programme in September 2022.
The freelance web designer had missed the May application deadline and thought it was discriminatory that German students were still able to apply in September.
A frustrated Arthur was then accused at the end of a ‘tense’ and ‘heated’.
Arthur said: ‘I was responding to the policy of the University to have a different deadline for non-German people. I felt I was being discriminated against.
‘It wasn’t targeted towards her individually but the fact she was enforcing a policy which I perceived to be discriminatory, but at the same time you could argue that it was towards her.’
Leipzig University told Metro their employee felt offended and had tried to end the conversation.
They added their policy of earlier deadlines for some courses was not discriminatory but designed to help international students complete the admissions process.
The employee reported the incident to the police and a few months later officials asked Arthur to provide a counter-statement.
Cops then forwarded the complaint to Leipzig’s prosecutor’s office in January 2023.
Arthur refused to take part in victim-offender mediation later that year and in January 2024 he received a penal order with a 600 euros fine.
He told Metro: ‘I was completely shocked to be fined. In England, we have obviously a much broader freedom of expression.
‘This is a waste of time for the police. I do not consider myself to have broken the law.’
The web designer objected to the fine in January 2024, which means Arthur is now due to be prosecuted in the local regional court (Amtsgericht) in Leipzig.
The 30-year-old has now waited over a year for his case to come before a judge.
A spokesperson for Leipzig’s Amtsgericht declined to comment, other than to confirm that ‘no trial date has yet been set’.
Arthur said: ‘There is no end date in sight. There’s sort of a nightmare of waiting and waiting and waiting.’
Arthur and his lawyer are planning to argue in court that he is protected by freedom of expression guarantees in the European Convention on Human Rights.
Article 10 states: ‘Everyone has the right to freedom of expression and to receive and impart information.’
Arthur is prepared to fight the prosecution to the European Court of Human Rights.
He added: ‘Freedom of expression is necessary in a democratic society.
We are going to argue that this is a violation of my rights.
‘If the Amtsgericht say I’m guilty, then I would go to the European Court.’
‘It is a bit nerve wracking to go against the German state, which is kind of like a black box. You kind of never know what’s going to come next.
‘It’s just waiting, waiting and then maybe after a couple of months you’re going to receive some document, give it the lawyer and then waiting, waiting, waiting.
‘A couple of times and they have commented that there’s many other cases on the docket.’
A spokesperson for Leipzig University said in relation to their application deadlines: ‘In some cases, international applicants have earlier deadlines than German applicants.
‘This is primarily due to factors such as where the applicant obtained their higher education entrance qualification.
‘These earlier deadlines help ensure that international students can begin their degree programme on time at the start of the semester.
‘There can be no question of discrimination; the goal is to provide all international applicants with the best possible chance of successfully completing the admissions process, with equal opportunities being a key priority.’
Germany’s anti-insult laws have come under scrutiny before.
In November 2024, the country’s Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck pressed charges against a man who called him a ‘professional idiot.
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