The district court said on Wednesday that a 53-year-old man must pay a 2,250 euro ($2,470) fine after insulting politician Hannelore Kraft in an email.

The man, whose identity is being protected in accordance with German privacy laws, sent the premier of North Rhine-Westphalia two angry emails after learning of her proposal to put unemployed Germans to work helping refugees.

"You must have the IQ of a piece of toast," the then-unemployed man wrote in his first email to Kraft. He reportedly used other profanities in his message as well.

Kraft emailed the man back with a detailed explanation of her proposal, and he followed up with a second angry email, in which he described her as being part of "corrupt pack" and an "asshole."

Germans debate meaning of free speech

The man now says he was "frustrated" when he sent those emails, and that he was now in fact working with refugees, according to German tabloid Express.

The case comes not long after another high-profile lawsuit that highlighted German attitudes toward free speech. In May, a Hamburg court ruled against comedian Jan Böhmermann, whose satirical poem about Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan caused a political firestorm after Erdogan filed a complaint with prosecutors.

Though the court said the poem was subject to artistic freedom, it ruled that Böhmermann had crossed a line, calling his comments about Erdogan "slanderous and defamatory."

Böhmermann has appealed the decision.