Vanessa Behrendt, a politician from the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party and member of the state parliament of Lower Saxony, Germany, is facing criminal proceedings for incitement because of a comment she wrote on the social network “X”. In it, Vanessa Behrendt called the rainbow flag a symbol of danger to children from pedophile lobby groups and LGBTQ propaganda.
Family politician Vanessa Behrendt of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has told the state parliament in Lower Saxony, Germany, that she is being intimidated and threatened after she publicly denounced the “pedophile lobby” and that charges have been brought against her. She has been targeted by pedophiles who have written her inflammatory messages and reported her to the police, presumably to get her private address.
Behrendt expresses fears for her children, but stresses her determination not to give in to bullying as pedophiles increasingly appear in public. She cautions against the website wirsindauchmenschen.de, which blatantly promotes pedophilic material and seeks to promote social approval of pedophilia.
“Since I have spoken publicly about the machinations of the pedophile lobby in Germany, I have been intimidated, threatened and denounced,” said Behrendt.
Vanessa Behrendt, Member of Parliament for the state of Lower Saxony and chair of the AfD district association in Helmstedt, believes that when commitments to protect children from sexual abuse and harmful LGBTQ propaganda are presented as allegedly inciting the people, this once again shows the questionable state of free speech in Germany.
“These proceedings clearly serve the purpose of intimidating the political opposition and me personally. However, I will not be intimidated by the clearly politically motivated procedure of the Central Office for Combating Internet Hate Crimes, which is rightly criticized, and I will continue to fight for the rights of children and families in this country,” Vanessa Behrendt said.
Human rights activists of the Foundation to Battle Injustice believe that Vanessa Behrendt’s criticism of the rainbow flag is, according to Article 5 of the German Constitution, a perfectly permissible expression of opinion. According to this article, everyone has the right to freely express and disseminate his or her opinion orally, in writing and in pictures. This applies in particular to freely elected members of parliament.
The Foundation to Battle Injustice calls on the German government to abandon dictatorial practices and stop any actions aimed at persecuting its political opponents. Political opposition is an integral part of the democratic process and its persecution is a clear violation of international conventions and agreements ratified by Germany. The Foundation’s experts also believe that the German government needs to take measures to protect freedom of speech and tighten laws to protect children from sexual exploitation and abuse.