Controversial right-wing German magazine Compact a has filed a lawsuit with the country’s Federal Administrative Court against a ban.
On July 17, Germany’s interior ministry banned the media outlet, which has often criticised the left-leaning government, in what some called the most aggressive move against press freedom since the Second World War.
Interior minister Nancy Faeser of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) justified the step by saying Compact and its associated video production company Conspect Film were “central mouthpieces of the right-wing extremist scene” and were against Constitutional order.
Faeser said Compact agitated “in an unspeakable way against Jews, against people with a migration history and against our parliamentary democracy”.
On July 16, police officers, some wearing balaclavas, raided the home and workplace of Compactfounder and chief editor Jürgen Elsässer.
The magazine website was taken down and its related social media platforms as well as its official YouTube account were temporarily disabled.
Across Germany, magazine employees’ private homes were raided. The outlet’s financial backers also had their assets seized and their properties raided.
The Federal Administrative Court’s decision on the lawsuit remains pending. The ruling will likely address how the ban can be justified while considering the constitutionally protected freedom of the press.
Elsässer criticised the action, claiming it was a severe infringement of press freedom.
Compact was already classified by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution in 2021 as extremist, völkisch-nationalist, or racist, and hostile to minorities.
A festival organised by the magazine, the Summer Festival for Freedom of the Press, was also banned.
It was to due take place at the manor of a former Alternative for Germany (AfD) politician. The anti-mass migration activist Martin Sellner was announced as a guest.
Petr Bystron, the German MEP AfD who is also in the crosshairs of his government, told Brussels Signal in Strasbourg that such bans seemed part of a “European-wide crackdown on right-wing commentators and media”.
“Everybody who is against the main agenda, everybody who is against the war is silenced by force.
“But there are a lot of people even from the Left spectrum, not the politicians but intelligent, sleek, thinking people who are saying, ‘Just stop and look on into what’s happened. If a minister can just delete, can completely forbid a newspaper. It could happen afterward. When AfD is in power, it could happen to us,’” he added.
“There are, of course, many, many lawyers who are saying this is absolutely unconstitutional. There’s no way that this can prevail. So they’re hoping that Compact will win,” Bystron concluded.
The German Journalists’ Association, one of Europe’s largest journalists’ organisations, has come out against the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party, saying the union “will not hold any political talks with extremists.” https://t.co/OvEpv9f78f
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) July 18, 2024
