The Berlin District Court has ruled that a social media post by comedian Sebastian Hotz about the assassination attempt on US President Donald Trump constituted “unpunishable satire.”
The court concluded that the statements were not to be understood as serious support for violence.
“One must be able to argue about good and bad opinions,” said the judge on July 23.
Shortly after the July 13 attempt on Trump’s life, Hotz published a post on X that read: “What do the last bus and Donald Trump have in common? Unfortunately, just missed.”
Hotz added that he thought it was “absolutely fantastic when fascists die.”
The public prosecutor’s office charged Hotz under Section 140 of the German Criminal Code, which punishes “rewarding and condoning criminal offences”.
The prosecutors called for a €6,000 fine, emphasising that “even satirists are not above the law”.
In November last year, a man was fined over a social media post that referenced Robert Habeck, former minister and vice chancellor of Germany, alongside a pile of excrement emoji.
Following the Berlin court’s verdict, Hotz quoted a tweet confirming that he was acquitted with the photo of Trump with his fist in the air after the would-be assassin’s bullet grazed his ear.
https://t.co/f1ZxsPA0EP pic.twitter.com/0ZOW9UmaGO
— E L H O T Z O (@elhotzo) July 23, 2025
Initially, Tiergarten District Court had declined to open a trial due to what it saw as a lack of criminal conduct.
That decision was appealed by prosecutors and overturned by the Berlin I Regional Court (LG), which allowed the case to proceed.
The LG acknowledged that the post fell under freedom of expression as protected by Article 5, Paragraph 1 of the German Basic Law, but criticised the lower court for what it saw as an overly lenient interpretation of Hotz’s remarks.
His use of the word “unfortunately”, in particular, was interpreted as clearly referencing regret over the failure of the assassination attempt.
Despite this, the court ultimately ruled that Hotz’s comments, while provocative, remained within the legal bounds of satire in the context of public political discourse.
