A student from Zurich (39) ends up in court for allegedly insulting the current German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (39). “Someone should cut you to pieces,” he wrote to the politician’s personal email address in October 2021, according to the criminal order. And adorned the statement with a swear word that should not be repeated at this point. At the time, the politician was president of Bündnis 90/Die Grünen and wanted to be elected chancellor. And she did not tolerate the tirade from Zurich: Baerbock turned against the prosecutor’s office in Berlin.
The Zurich colleagues reached this with the request to take over the penalty. The email address from which the swear words were sent does not contain any names, just the word “papierlischwizer”. Zurich city police still found what they were looking for.
Hate senders of emails with mental health issues?
The “papierlischwizer” is the 39-year-old student from Zurich, Nikolai J.*. The Moscow-born man was sentenced to a fine of 1,800 francs for verbal abuse on June 14, 2022. There are also proceedings costs of 800 francs.
“The honor of the injured party has been violated, which is what the suspect intended, but in any case accepted with consent,” the public prosecutor wrote in her motivation. However, the student has challenged the penalty order, which means that the case is now going to court.
Nikolai J. was unavailable for Blick. The trial against him will take place on November 25 in the Zurich court. Nikolai J. is not a blank slate according to Blick’s research. And from his family environment it is said that he suffers from psychological problems.
Hatred of politicians escalates
In Germany, threats and insults against politicians have long been a problem. According to “Spiegel”, the Greens are planning to take action against anonymous accounts spreading criminal content with a law protecting against digital violence. A study says Annalena Baerbock received 5,524 emails “with potentially offensive and hurtful language” during the 2021 election campaign.
Political agitation also occurs in Switzerland. Recently, a vaccine opponent (45) was sentenced to a suspended fine for assault – he sprayed Zurich health director Natalie Rickli (45) with apple juice. More serious was an attack on the green city councilor Karin Rykart of Zurich. A 32-year-old man had threatened to “crush” her. The Zurich court imposed a minor detention on the schizophrenic man.
* Name changed