The Brandenburg AfD member of the Bundestag Hannes Gnauck does not face any legal consequences because of a photo of a ballot. “We have not started any investigative proceedings. There is no initial suspicion of violating voting secrecy, ”said Cyrill Klement, head of the political department at the Neuruppin public prosecutor’s office, on Wednesday of the dpa.
Gnauck had published a tweet with a photo of a ballot on election Sunday on September 26th. The photo showed the ballot with two crosses for Gnauck himself and his party. It remained unclear whether it was his own ballot or someone else’s. The responsible election officer had filed a complaint. The Twitter entry has now been deleted.
Prosecutor sees no criminal offense
In both cases, this is not a criminal offense, according to Klement. The publication of one’s own voting decision does not fall under the corresponding norm in the Criminal Code. If it was someone else’s ballot paper that was shown in the photo, it was also not a violation of voting secrecy. By sending the picture to Gnauck, the voter announced his voting decision himself. The public prosecutor’s office only initiates investigative proceedings if there are sufficient factual indications of a criminal offense, which ends in an indictment or a termination of the proceedings.
Gnauck was in constituency 57 (Uckermark – Barnim I) as a direct candidate to the SPD member of the Bundestag Stefan Zierke. He moved into parliament via the state list.
From RND / dpa
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