German court backs president over far-right 'nutcase' comment

  • 10 years ago
Germany’s highest court has ruled that the president was within his constitutional rights to call the far-right NPD party ‘nutcases.’

The NPD had complained about remarks Joachim Gauck made to school students in Berlin in August 2013. He was talking about protests held outside an asylum-hotel in the city, and called the protesters ‘spinner’ meaning ‘loony’ or ‘nutcase.’

The Federal Constitutional Court ruled the president had not overstepped his neutral role.

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