Brit fined £500 for saying ‘I think you are a racist’ acquitted after two years
A British expat who was fined 600 euros (£500) by German police after telling someone ‘I think you are a racist’ has been cleared after two years.
Arthur Goldberg, 30, objected to the fine in January 2024 and was prosecuted in the courts for the remark.
A judge finally acquitted him of the charges in February and ordered the state to pay all the costs of the proceedings.
Insulting someone is a criminal offence in Germany but Arthur successfully argued he was protected by freedom of expression rights.
Arthur told Metro: ‘This was a colossal waste of time. The law was obviously on my side.
‘This just created delays in the court system that could have been used for more important cases.’
Sign up for all of the latest stories
Start your day informed with Metro's News Updates newsletter or get Breaking News alerts the moment it happens.
The web designer, who moved to Germany over five 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 then made the remark at the end of a ‘tense’ and ‘heated’ meeting.
Arthur said: ‘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.
The employee reported the incident to the police and a few months later officials asked Arthur to provide a counter-statement.
He 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.
Arthur was ‘completely shocked’ telling Metro previously: ‘I didn’t think anywhere in the free world you could be prosecuted for insulting somebody.’
Section 185 of the German Criminal Code criminalises insults that are an attack on a person’s honor, by expressing disregard or contempt.
The city’s public prosecutor decided to pursue Arthur in court when he objected to the fine, but he had to wait two years for a trial date to be set.
The web designer was finally brought in front of a judge at the local regional court (Amtsgericht) on February 23rd this year.
Arthur recalled said: ‘My lawyer mentioned the freedom of expression laws and said my remark was also a broader statement towards the university.
‘There was one prosecutor present who didn’t make a strong argument. They just presented the facts and stopped there.’
If he lost, Arthur would have had to pay the fine and cover the court costs, which could have been thousands of euros.
But Judge Wondra ruled in his favour, concluding that his remark was objective criticism (Sachkritik) in the context they were made and so was protected by freedom of expression laws in the country’s constitution.
Arthur was acquitted by the judge, who ruled that the state pay for the costs of the proceedings.
The Brit reacted: ‘It was a big relief. I had been waiting for such a long time.
‘Because of the actions of the public prosecutors, this wasted a lot of time for the court and myself.’
Despite his frustration at the delays, Arthur did praise the German system that ‘if you are patient you can get a fair result in the end’.
He added: ‘There is always a way to appeal and make your voice heard. That did happen in this case despite the colossal waste of time.’
A spokesperson for Leipzig University previously told Metro 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.’
The University declined to comment further.
A spokesperson for Leipzig Public Prosecutor’s Office said they were unable to comment.
Germany’s anti-insult laws have come under scrutiny before.
They criminalise defamatory criticism, rather than objective criticism, which is generally not protected by freedom of expression.
In November 2024, the country’s Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck pressed charges against a man who called him a ‘professional idiot’.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected].
For more stories like this, check our news page.