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A German court has overturned a ban on a far-right magazine introduced last year by the previous government, finding it to be unlawful.
The ruling on Tuesday found that the case against Compact magazine and its publisher, Compact-Magazin GmbH, did not meet the threshold to warrant its proscription.
The then Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said at the time that the government was taking the action on the grounds that Compact “is a central mouthpiece of the right-wing extremist scene.”
“This magazine incites hatred against Jews, people with a history of migration and our parliamentary democracy in an unspeakable manner,” she said in a statement.
“Our message is very clear: We will not allow ethnicity to define who belongs to Germany and who does not. Our constitutional state protects all those who are persecuted because of their faith, their origins, their skin colour, or even their democratic stance.”
But its prohibition was suspended a month later, after the company appealed to the Federal Administrative Court which paused the action pending a full review of the case.
The court said in a statement that Germany’s constitution enshrines the value freedom of the press and freedom of expression “even for the enemies of freedom” and that a ban would only be proportional if the publisher’s anti-constitutional activities were proven to be “formative” for the group.
It said a review of the evidence found that the material in question did not reach that bar.
At the time of the ban, German media reported that police were conducting searches in several states as they aimed to confiscate assets and collect evidence.
Prior to the attempts to ban it, the magazine had been classified as extremist, nationalist and anti-minority by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution in 2021, but remained widely available.
Compact magazine, which has a circulation of about 40,000 and has been published since 2010, is edited by far-right figure Jürgen Elsässer, though its online following is significantly higher.
Elsässer, who is a supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin, called the ban an “attack on press freedom” at the time.
The development is the latest boon for Germany’s far right and comes after its domestic intelligence agency last month suspended the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party’s “extremist classification,” days after it said it was designated as such after the party filed a lawsuit.
Germany’s Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution then said it would await a court ruling before moving forward with plans to impose the designation, which could see the party subjected to heightened surveillance and scrutiny of its activities.
The far-right party came second in Germany’s snap federal election in February, securing 20.8% of the vote and doubling its share from the last election in 2021.
It was the best result for a far-right party in Germany since World War II.
Additional sources • AP
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