Arne Semsrott

Arne Semsrott studied political science.{{Cite web |last=Übermedien |date=2024-04-17 |title=Warum legt man es als Journalist darauf an, angeklagt zu werden? |url=https://uebermedien.de/94014/warum-legt-man-es-als-journalist-darauf-an-angeklagt-zu-werden/ |access-date=2024-04-18 |website=Übermedien |language=de-DE}}

Semsrott attended the Catholic high school Sophie Barat Schule in Hamburg. In school, he founded the satirical school newspaper Sophie's Underworld ({{langx|de|link=no|Sophies Unterwelt}}) together with his older brother, Nico Semsrott at the Hamburg {{interlanguage link|Sophie-Barat-Schule|de}}. Its sale was banned on the school grounds by the school's headmistress, though it was continued to be sold from a portable toilet.{{Cite web|first=Matthias |last=Hanselmann |url=https://www.deutschlandfunkkultur.de/nico-und-arne-semsrott-mal-lustig-mal-ernst-aber-immer.970.de.html?dram:article_id=391523 |title=Nico und Arne Semsrott – Mal lustig, mal ernst – aber immer politisch |work=Deutschlandfunk |trans-title=Nico and Arne Semsrott: Sometimes funny, sometimes serious – but always political |language=de |access-date=11 May 2019}}{{cite web|url=https://www.spiegel.de/lebenundlernen/schule/rebellische-schuelerzeitung-pressekrieg-um-sophies-unterwelt-a-362828.html |title=Pressekrieg um "Sophies Unterwelt" |author=Benedikt Mandl |work=Spiegel-Online |language=de |date=1 July 2005 |accessdate=3 September 2021}}

Semsrott has been working as a freelance journalist since 2008. Between 2010 and 2015, he studied political science in Berlin and Istanbul. Since 2014, he has been director of the freedom of information initiativ FragDenStaat at the Open Knowledge Foundation Germany, for which he received the Otto Brenner Award in both 2015 and 2016. He is co-initiator of the OpenSCHUFA initiative, which was nominated for the Grimme Online Award, and has been on the board of lobby watchdog {{interlanguage link|LobbyControl|de}} since October 2018. In 2021, Semsrott founded the Freiheitsfonds initiative.{{cite web|url=https://www.fr.de/zukunft/nicht-mehr-in-den-knast-fuers-fahren-ohne-ticket-91412583.html|title=Nicht mehr in den Knast fürs Fahren ohne Ticket|trans-title=No more going to jail for riding without a ticket|date=15 March 2022|first=Alina|last=Hanss|website=fr.de|publisher=Frankfurter Rundschau|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230529094113/https://www.fr.de/zukunft/nicht-mehr-in-den-knast-fuers-fahren-ohne-ticket-91412583.html|archive-date=29 May 2023|url-status=live|language=German}}{{cite web|url=https://www.zeit.de/campus/2022-02/ersatzfreiheitsstrafe-oepnv-erschleichen-von-dienstleistungen-freiheitsfonds-interview|title=Wir haben dem Staat schon knapp 2,9 Millionen gespart|trans-title=We have already saved the state almost 2.9 million|date=1 March 2022|first=Benjamin|last=Hinrichs|website=zeit.de|publisher=Die Zeit|access-date=5 October 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220301161213/https://www.zeit.de/campus/2022-02/ersatzfreiheitsstrafe-oepnv-erschleichen-von-dienstleistungen-freiheitsfonds-interview|archive-date=1 March 2022|url-status=live|language=German}} The organisation raises funds to free prisoners who have been incarcerated under the substitute imprisonment law, which allows judges to impose custodial sentences for unpaid public transport fares.{{cite web|url=https://www.sr.de/sr/home/nachrichten/panorama/schwarzfahren_initative_freiheitsfonds_kauft_haeftlinge_frei_100.html|title=Auch aus dem Saarland: Initiative Freiheitsfonds kauft Schwarzfahrer frei|trans-title=Also from Saarland: Freedom Fund initiative buys fare dodgers' freedom|date=2 September 2023|first=Martina|last=Kind|website=sr.de|publisher=Saarländischer Rundfunk|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230923064333/https://www.sr.de/sr/home/nachrichten/panorama/schwarzfahren_initative_freiheitsfonds_kauft_haeftlinge_frei_100.html|archive-date=23 September 2023|url-status=live|language=German}} It also advocates decriminalising the act of riding on public transport without a ticket, which was made an offence by the Nazi party in 1935.{{cite web|url=https://taz.de/Freiheitsfonds-kauft-Schwarzfahrer-frei/!5818831/|title= Freiheitsfonds kauft Schwarzfahrer frei: Fahrschein aus dem Gefängnis|trans-title=Freedom Fund buys fare dodgers' freedom: Ticket out of prison|date=16 December 2021|first=Gareth|last=Joswig|website=taz.de|publisher=Die Tageszeitung|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230430034129/https://taz.de/Freiheitsfonds-kauft-Schwarzfahrer-frei/!5818831/|archive-date=30 April 2023|url-status=live|language=German}}{{cite web|url=https://www.nd-aktuell.de/artikel/1159325.ersatzfreiheitsstrafe-initiative-kauft-berliner-haeftlinge-frei.html|title=Ersatzfreiheitsstrafe: Initiative kauft Berliner Häftlinge frei|trans-title=Substitute imprisonment: Initiative buys Berlin prisoners' freedom|date=6 December 2021|first=Sebastian|last=Bähr|website=nd-aktuell.de|publisher=Neues Deutschland|access-date=5 October 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230314163429/https://www.nd-aktuell.de/artikel/1159325.ersatzfreiheitsstrafe-initiative-kauft-berliner-haeftlinge-frei.html|archive-date=14 March 2023|url-status=live|language=German}} As of September 2023, Semsrott and Freiheitsfonds had raised more than €800,000 and allowed 850 people to leave prison early.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-66664823|title=The German group buying ticket dodgers out of prison|date=28 September 2023|website=bbc.co.uk|publisher=BBC News|access-date=5 October 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928011255/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-66664823|archive-date=28 September 2023|url-status=live}}

Semsrott is co-initiator of “OpenSCHUFA” and an author at netzpolitik.org.

In 2023, Semsrott published court decisions from an ongoing case against the “Last Generation” climate movement. The movement was classified by a Bavarian court as a “criminal organization” according to Section 129 of Strafgesetzbuch. This enabled the police to carry out house searches and intercept communications. The movements donation account was confiscated, as was the original homepage. During the time of the ongoing case of Section 129 it is prohibited to publish official documents about the case, so - according to Semsrott - the public could not see any proof that the group is a "criminal organization." To publish this documents is prohibited in Germany according to Paragraph 353d and you face a fine or a prison sentence of up to one year.{{Cite news |last=Rath |first=Christian |date=2023-11-25 |title=Ist die Letzte Generation kriminell?: Eine Frage der Demokratie |url=https://taz.de/!5975511/ |access-date=2024-04-18 |work=Die Tageszeitung: taz |language=de |issn=0931-9085}}

Semsrott wanted a criminal proceedings. He is of the opinion that the paragraph is unconstitutional and contrary to European law and restricts freedom of the press. He published the resolutions because he was convinced “that there is a great deal of public interest in this ‘Last Generation’ process,” he says.

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Category:1988 births

Category:Living people

Category:Activist journalists

Category:Freedom of information activists

Category:21st-century German journalists

Category:German male journalists