March 7, 2009
German court fines man $2,300 for SMS message
A court in Germany fined a man 1,800 euros ($2,300) for inadvertently passing on an SMS text message which told the recipient they had just killed a Turk by opening it, his lawyer said Friday. Reuters reports.
Shortly before Germany defeated Turkey in last year's Euro 2008 soccer tournament, the 28-year-old sent a message that in German read "by opening this SMS, you have killed a Turk."
The recipient was also urged to forward the SMS to encourage a "clean" tournament, landing the man in court charged with inciting racial hatred, his lawyer Karl Laible said Friday. About 3 percent of Germany's population are of Turkish origin.
The man had been forwarded the message and accidentally sent it to the name at the top of his phone's address book last June, Laible said, adding that he had done so only once.
"The only reason the SMS became known about was because the home of the man he sent it to was searched by police. His mobile was confiscated and that's when the SMS was found."
"It's a farcical story really: my client is a conscientious objector and his brother-in-law is a Turk," Laible said.
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