In a major win for press freedom, Germany’s Federal Administrative Court has lifted the Interior Ministry’s ban on Compact Magazine, which is published by Jürgen Elsässer. The magazine can now resume publication after dramatic police raids led to the entire publication being shutdown last year.
Presiding Judge Ingo Kraft stated, “The Basic Law guarantees freedom of expression and association even to its enemies.”
In a move that may have broad and far-reaching consequences, the court ruled that the magazine’s position against immigration is compatible with free speech and freedom of the press rights enshrined in the constitution.
“Many of the anti-immigration or anti-immigration statements cited by the defendant as evidence for the ban can therefore also be interpreted as exaggerated criticism of migration policy, but ultimately permissible in light of fundamental rights of communication,” the court further stated.
Kraft stated that the publication’s “exaggerated criticism of migration policy” is permissible as a fundamental right.
Furthermore, Compact’s demands for stricter naturalization requirements and higher integration standards in citizenship law are not inherently incompatible with human dignity or democratic principles.
The court noted that Compact’s “polemically pointed criticism of power,” conspiracy theories, and historical revisionist views are protected under Article 5, Paragraph 1 of the Basic Law.
The ban on Compact first came about in 2024 when former Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser ordered house raids against Compact magazine, including the home of the publisher, Jürgen Elsässer, along with various employees of the outlet. She had the entire publication banned, scrubbed from the internet, and its property seized.
Footage of the dramatic house raids went viral on social media.
The German interior ministry justified the ban by saying it was a “central mouthpiece of the right-wing extremist scene.” According to the ministry, “Compact” Magazine GmbH has long been under the scrutiny of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV). It was classified as a “confirmed” right-wing extremist organization and has been under surveillance since 2021.
However, there were already signs early on that a ban on the magazine would not be upheld in court, according to Welt newspaper.
The federal judges had already overturned the ban during an expedited procedure last year in August, writing that “given the largely unobjectionable contributions… with regard to freedom of expression and freedom of the press, the passages violating Article 1, Paragraph 1 of the Basic Law are [not] so influential on the organization’s overall orientation that the ban is justified on the grounds of proportionality.” Now, the 6th Senate, which is responsible for the case, has made its final decision in the main proceedings.
The Leipzig judges have the final say in the case, as they do with all cases regarding lawsuits on bans on associations.
The outcome fo the case is a serious black eye for the German security services that sought to erase a press outlet from existence, even one they found objectionable. Their heavy-handed tactics involving morning raids of homes involving officers in SWAT gear will likely be scrutinized in light of the court’s overturning of their ban and property seizure efforts.
Founded in 2010, the Compact Magazine’s publishing company was formerly based in Falkensee, Brandenburg, but shifted to Stößen, Saxony-Anhalt. The magazine has 40,000 subscribers for its physical product, and 460,000 subscribers on Youtube.
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