Zu Googleberg: Epilogue

[xavierxalfonso]

Former German defence minister Karl-Theodore zu Guttenberg recently had to resign his post after being stripped of his PhD because of plagiarism *. If you ever read this blog, you'll know about this, as I've written about it extensively.

Having also resigned as an MP, Mr zu Guttenberg has now lost his parliamentary immunity. So the public prosecutor

Comments

Wtf?

[first_fallen]

Mr zu Guttenberg has now lost his parliamentary immunity

What? Are MPs not allowed to be prosecuted despite being caught red-handed?

Re: Wtf?

[xavierxalfonso]

Obvious, really. See, as a duly elected representative of the people, MPs need to be more equal than the people they were elected to serve, so that they can better serve them. Er...

I think parliamentary immunity was originally introduced to prevent MPs being tied up in court by spurious, politically-motivated charges - thereby ensuring that parliament can work properly. Provided there's a decent, working (and affordable) mechanism for removing immunity in individual cases, this isn't such a bad idea. In Germany's case, I think a plaintiff can get immunity revoked by going through the courts.

[bumpycat]

Schadenfreude ist der beste freude ... (I saw that somewhere, and hope I have the spelling right) ;) It's all too funny!