IIn an obituary published on December 31, “queer.de” had the late former Pope Benedict XVI. described as one of “the biggest anti-queer agitators” whose trademark was “homophobia”.
Benedict XVI (real name Joseph Ratzinger) had died on the same day at the age of 95. On New Year’s Eve, the police spokesman said the complaint against “queer.de” was made via the Internet watchdog.
Now it is being investigated because of Section 189 of the Criminal Code, “denigration of the memory of the deceased”. This was confirmed by a police spokesman for the Evangelical Press Service (epd). First, the portal itself as well as the “tageszeitung” and the “Tagesspiegel” reported about it.
“Queer.de” publisher Micha Schulze announced on Monday that he would not give the police any voluntary information. “Even the preliminary investigations and the assumption of an initial suspicion go too far,” he wrote on the portal. But his trust in the rule of law and freedom of the press in Germany is high enough.
He also announced that he would hire a law firm to find out who made the complaint.
The German Union of Journalists (dju) appealed to the public prosecutor to stop the investigation immediately. “Long-winded investigations or an indictment by the public prosecutor’s office would be an attack on press freedom,” wrote state manager Jörg Reichel on Twitter.