Jens Puehse, a senior member of the German National Democratic Party (NPD) has been acquitted of “incitement” following a trial centering on CDs that prosecutors said encouraged violence against foreigners.
A state court in Dresden said it found no evidence of criminal behavior on the part of Puehse, 35, a member of the national leadership council of the NPD. The charges stemmed from his activities as manager of a publishing house, Deutsche Stimme Verlag, which police raided in 2003.
Prosecutors accused Puehse of producing and distributing some 2,500 CDs between 2000 and 2003 that called for hatred and violence against foreigners and left-wingers. They had called for Puehse to be fined. Presiding judge Martin Schultze-Griebler said that the contents of the CDs in question did not legally constitute incitement.
Over the past three years, the NPD has won seats in the regional legislatures of two states, including Saxony, where Puehse’s publishing house is based and the trial took place.
That has prompted discussion of whether the government should launch a new drive to ban the party. Officials are wary, however, after Germany’s highest court in 2003 blocked a previous attempt to ban the NPD. It refused to hear the case because the government cited statements by party members who turned out to be paid informers for state authorities.
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