A “ZDF Magazin Royale” research is now also occupying politics. The editors had submitted criminally relevant hate messages to police stations – and found out interesting things.

The FDP domestic politician Konstantin Kuhle expects a more consistent prosecution of crimes on the Internet from the federal states.

The improvement of criminal prosecution and police work on the Internet under the conditions of the federal security order must be a focus of the conference of interior ministers beginning today, said Kuhle of the German Press Agency in Berlin.

Kuhle referred to research by the editors of the program “ZDF Magazin Royale” by the satirist Jan Böhmermann. Last summer, they reported seven obviously criminally relevant hate messages to police departments in all 16 federal states and later described the mostly sluggish course of the investigation. Death threats were displayed, as were anti-Semitic content and anti-constitutional, right-wing extremist symbols. In some federal states, the ads were not even accepted.

Coordinate better

“The program showed that there is no lack of powers when it comes to criminal prosecution online, but rather the consistent enforcement of existing laws,” explained Kuhle, who is also deputy chairman of the FDP parliamentary group. “Criminal prosecution, including on the Internet, is a matter for the federal states. They have a duty to equip and organize police authorities and the judiciary in terms of staff and technology in such a way that they can also effectively prosecute everyday crime in the digital space.”

The federal government can participate through the strengthening of the judiciary agreed in the coalition agreement, said Kuhle. However, the prosecuting authorities of the countries would have to coordinate their approach to crimes on the Internet better with each other so that the police and judiciary in different countries do not work at cross purposes. “Internal security must not suffer from federalism.”

The interior ministers of the federal states will be advising in the Bavarian town of Würzburg until Friday, among other things, on disaster control and civil protection and crime on the Internet. Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser (SPD) is also to join the conference.