A Berlin regional court has delivered a significant legal blow to the German left-leaning investigative outlet Correctiv.
The move prohibits it from repeating the claim that several politicians and others discussed the possible deportation of two million migrants from Germany during an alleged secret meeting in Potsdam.
These claims caused a huge backlash against the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) Party and sparked mass protests across Germany,
Yesterday, the Landgericht Berlin ruled in favour of AfD MP Gerrit Huy, banning three key statements from Correctiv’s coverage of the November 2023 gathering near Potsdam.
The court classified the claims as false factual assertions rather than protected journalistic opinion, ordering the outlet to cease publishing them.
These claims included the assertion that a “masterplan for the expulsion of German citizens” was presented at the meeting. Also, references to an “denaturalisation idea for citizens” put forward by Austrian activist Martin Sellner and the claim, attributed via another participant, that Huy herself proposed revoking German citizenship from dual nationals.
The ruling, which is not yet final and can be appealed, marks the latest chapter in a string of lawsuits brought by participants in the meeting.
Huy’s lawyer, Carsten Brennecke, described the outcome as decisive: The Correctiv report had “collapsed like a house of cards”, he said, with the messages that “made thousands of Germans afraid” and drove them onto the streets now “off the table, prohibited, judicially banned”.
Correctiv’s editor-in-chief, Justus von Daniels, expressed surprise at the verdict, noting it contrasted with earlier successes in Hamburg.
He insisted the “undisputed core of facts” from the investigation remained untouched and that only “two journalistic evaluations” had been challenged. The outlet intends to appeal.
The magazine had claimed that the disputed passages were permissible expressions of opinion but the court said these claims were not opinions but false statements.
Correctiv’s January 2024 investigation, headlined Secret Plan Against Germany, portrayed the Potsdam hotel meeting — organised by businessman Gernot Mörig and attended by AfD figures including Huy and others, alongside Sellner of the Identitarian Movement — as the hatching of a conspiratorial “remigration” scheme.
The outlet claimed the discussions went far beyond standard deportation policy, extending to the potential expulsion or denaturalisation of German citizens who did not assimilate.
The story triggered nationwide outrage. Hundreds of thousands took to the streets in anti-AfD protests in January 2024, with senior figures from the then SPD-Green-FDP government and the Christian Democratic Union joining demonstrations.
The scandal dominated German headlines for weeks and contributed to sustained political pressure on the AfD.
Participants, including Huy, have consistently maintained that the gathering was a private discussion of policy ideas, not a secret masterplan and that Sellner’s presentation did not advocate expelling German citizens.
Huy told the court she “hardly knew anyone” at the event and was unaware Sellner would speak.
The Berlin decision builds on a series of prior cases. In Hamburg, Correctiv had secured partial victories against other attendees such as Mörig and constitutional lawyer Ulrich Vosgerau, although those rulings are also under appeal.
Brussels Signal has reported extensively on the affair, including earlier court injunctions against Correctiv for misquoting participants and the outlet’s own undisclosed contacts with federal government figures in the run-up to publication.
This latest injunction is more sweeping because it strikes directly at the core assertion of the narrative that fuelled the protests.
German non-profit news group Correctiv has apparently backtracked on its report about a “conspiratorial” AfD meeting where several politicians and others allegedly discussed the deportation of two million migrants from Germany. https://t.co/NY6To0rlI1
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) January 29, 2024
