expression as guaranteed under the Belgian Constitution as well as the European Convention on Human Rights. A proposal to repeal the 1847 law will be made in Parliament. Denmark In Denmark, the monarch is protected by the usual libel paragraph (§ 267 of the Danish Penal Code which allows for up to four months of imprisonment), but §115 allows for doubling of the usual punishment when the reigning monarch is target of the libel. When a queen consort, queen dowager or the crown prince is the target, the punishment may be increased by 50%. There are no historical records of §115 having ever been used, but in March 2011, Greenpeace activists who unfurled a banner at a dinner at the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference were charged under this section. They received minor sentences for other crimes, but were acquitted of the charge relating to the monarch. Estonia Insulting a foreign dignitary, its representatives or family members, desecrating flag or anthem can be punished by up to two years of imprisonment according to the Penal Code § 247 and § 249 Germany Until 2017, it was illegal to publicly insult foreign heads of state. On 25 January 2017, the German justice minister Heiko Maas announced a decision by the cabinet to remove this law from the German criminal code, effective 1 January 2018. The decision came several months after Chancellor Angela Merkel announced in April 2016 a controversial decision to honour the Turkish government's request to prosecute a German comedian for reading an obscene poem about Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on late-night television. In that announcement, Merkel also stated the intention to consider repeal of the little-known law. The prosecution was dropped in November 2016. Insulting the federal president is still illegal, but prosecution requires the authorisation of the president. Iceland Insulting a country, foreign head of state, its representatives or flag can be punished by up to two years of imprisonment according to the 95th article of the penal code. For a very serious breach the term can be extended to six years. Italy Impugning the honour or prestige of the president of Italy or the Pope (his legal position in the Italian penal system is parified with the Italian head of state by virtue of the Lateran Treaty) is punishable with one to five years in jail. This includes personal offences made regarding their exercise of