III. The Bundestag
Article 46
[Immunities of Members]
(1) At no time may a Member be subjected to court proceedings or disciplinary action or otherwise called to account outside the Bundestag for a vote cast or a remark made by him in the Bundestag or in any of its committees. This provision shall not apply to defamatory insults.
(2) A Member may not be called to account or arrested for a punishable offence without permission of the Bundestag unless he is apprehended while committing the offence or in the course of the following day.
(3) The permission of the Bundestag shall also be required for any other restriction of a Member’s freedom of the person or for the initiation of proceedings against a Member under Article 18.
(4) Any criminal proceedings or any proceedings under Article 18 against a Member and any detention or other restriction of the freedom of his person shall be suspended at the demand of the Bundestag.
V. The Federal President
Article 60
[Appointment of civil servants – Pardon – Immunity]
(4) Paragraphs (2) to (4) of Article 46 shall apply to the Federal President, mutatis mutandis.
GENERAL PART
CHAPTER TWO
THE OFFENCE
FIFTH TITLE
IMMUNITY FOR STATEMENTS AND REPORTS MADE IN PARLIAMENT
Section 36
Parliamentary statements
Delegates of the Federal Parliament, the Federal Assembly or of a legislative body of a member state shall at all times be immune from external liability because of a vote they cast or a statement they made within one of those bodies or one of their committees. This shall not apply to intentional defamation.
Section 37
Parliamentary reports
Truthful reports about the public sessions of the bodies indicated in section 36 or their committees shall not give rise to any liability.
1. This Statute shall apply equally to all persons without any distinction based on official capacity. In particular, official capacity as a Head of State or Government, a member of a Government or parliament, an elected representative or a government official shall in no case exempt a person from criminal responsibility under this Statute, nor shall it, in and of itself, constitute a ground for reduction of sentence.
2. Immunities or special procedural rules which may attach to the official capacity of a person, whether under national or international law, shall not bar the Court from exercising its jurisdiction over such a person.