Mayor of Timișoara Threatens Legal Action after Being Called ‘Leper Nazi’

Dominic Fritz in 2022.
Tibor Rosta/MTI
The official expressed his discontent over the fact that the former rugby player Dan Dinu’s words were liked by several public figures and politicians.

Dominic Fritz, the mayor of Timișoara (Temesvár, Romania) threatened to file a complaint with the National Council for Combating Discrimination and initiate legal proceedings after a local businessman referred to him as a ‘leper Nazi brat’ in a video posted on Facebook, Hungarian language Romanian news site Maszol reported.

Fritz is the only mayor in Romania who does not hold a Romanian citizenship. Prior to becoming the mayor of Timișoara, Fritz, who is a German national, was a member of Alliance 90/The Greens between 2009 and 2019 and also a political advisor to former German president Horst Köhler between 2016 and 2019. Hungarian Conservative interviewed the mayor earlier this year about how and why he decided to run for the position, his love for the city and his commitment to preserving the ethnic and cultural diversity of Timișoara. The multi-ethnic Romanian city has been designated as one of the European Capitals of Culture in 2023.

Dominic Fritz: ‘I fell in love with Timisoara because I recognised my own ideals about Europe in this city’

As far as the incident at hand is concerned, the mayor also expressed dismay over the fact that former rugby player Dan Dinu’s post on social media

was liked by several Romanian public figures and politicians,

including Titi Stoica from the AUR party, Cosmin Șandru from the National Liberal Party (PSD), and Ion Ardeal Ieremia, the former Social Democratic Party (PSD) state secretary of culture. The comments were offensive, and Fritz stated that regardless of who is the target, he will not allow such style of speech to become normalised in Timișoara.

He emphasised that in Romania every second student is threatened, humiliated, or subjected to violence, and he holds the same responsibility towards them as towards adults who have fall victim to abuse. ‘I will not allow myself to be intimidated by Dan Dinu or any other aggressors who endorse similar racist, vulgar, violent, anti-European, and anti-Timișoara speeches,’ he stated. The mayor is filing a complaint with the council regarding the incident and has also threatened to sue Dan Dinu and the individuals who shared his post.

The entrepreneur responded to Fritz’s statement, declaring that he would not retract or modify his post.

The local press in Timișoara pointed out that there has been a long-standing hostile relationship between Dinu and the local government.

The National Council for Combating Discrimination (NCCD) in Romania, the Consiliul Național pentru Combaterea Discriminării in Romanian, is an institution responsible for promoting and ensuring equality and non-discrimination in the country. It was established in 2002 following Romania’s commitment to address issues related to discrimination and promote human rights, particularly in line with European Union regulations and international standards.

The NCCD operates as an independent authority with the primary mandate of combating and preventing discrimination on various grounds, including race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, gender, disability, sexual orientation, and age.

Source: Mandiner.hu


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The official expressed his discontent over the fact that the former rugby player Dan Dinu’s words were liked by several public figures and politicians.

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