According to the German ZEIT ONLINE article Bundesregierung prüft Strafbegehren der Türkei, Turkey requested that Germany prosecutes the German citizen Jan Böhmermann over a poem, and now German politicians in the Bundesregierung intend to decide if Böhmermann should be prosecuted.
I don't get it. I thought Germany has a separaton of powers?
The Bundesregierung is (like the police, the prosecuting authority, etc.) part of Germany’s executive.
StGB § 104a defines under which conditions offences described in chapter 3 Straftaten gegen ausländische Staaten (transl. Offences against foreign states), which consists of § 102, § 103 and § 104, can be prosecuted.
One of the conditions is
[…] und die Bundesregierung die Ermächtigung zur Strafverfolgung erteilt
= the Bundesregierung must authorise the prosecution.
