Comments made by a German politician about immigrants on social media platform X after an Afghan citizen committed a violent crime in a small German town led to a court imposing a fine. The court’s actions drew criticism online, which caught the attention of billionaire and X owner Elon Musk.

original postThe November 14 video shared by Musk on X had been viewed more than 20 million times by the time this article was completed. republish Those written by Musk also garnered almost the same number of views. DW Fact Check took a closer look at the post’s claims about the case of conservative German state politician Detlef Gürth.

Claim: The post on

DW Fact check: WRONG

The sentence imposed on the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) member was not imposed by the Aschersleben District Court solely because of the sentence quoted. Gürth’s post on X was longer and contained racist statements towards immigrants.

The Magdeburg Regional Court, which is responsible for press investigations, made the following statement to DW: “The subject of the criminal decision is not just one sentence. It is about the general impression of several sentences taken from the so-called ‘tweet’ dated 15.06.2024.”

So what exactly did the article say? It has now been deleted but still accessible postDetlef Gürth wrote: “It’s good that the police shot this cowardly, sneaky Afghan. We feed them, and then they kill innocent people. This herd needs to be driven away from Germany.”

The CDU state parliament member and former speaker of the Saxony-Anhalt state parliament was referring to a stabbing attack by a 27-year-old Afghan in Wolmirstedt in June. The man had entered a property in a residential area and attacked three people with a knife at a private Euro 2024 party. He had previously attacked another Afghan, who later died from his injuries.

“All elements of incitement to hatred”

According to the Halle Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, the statements legally have “all the characteristics of incitement to hatred.” The prosecutor’s office in Halle, with its head office in Saxony-Anhalt, is responsible for combating hate crimes on the internet. The Aschersleben District Court accepted the prosecutor’s assessment and issued a 90-day penalty of EUR 200 per person.

The Magdeburg regional court did not want to comment on other issues in the Gürth case for now, as the trial has not yet concluded and the decision is not yet legally binding. Gurth may still appeal. The 62-year-old actor has already announced that he will do so.

Edited by: Rachel Baig