In a dispute over a post on X the former “Bild” editor-in-chief Julian Reichelt achieved success before the Federal Constitutional Court. According to information from Tuesday, this upheld his constitutional complaint, which Reichelt was dealing with defended itself against a decision by the Berlin Court of Appeal. The Court of Appeal had issued an interim injunction prohibiting him from making critical statements about the federal government. (Ref. 1 BvR 2290/23)
Reichelt wrote in the short message service in August 2023: “In the last two years, Germany paid 370 MILLION EURO (!!!) in development aid to the TALIBAN (!!!!!!). We live in a madhouse, in an absolute, complete, total, historically unique madhouse. What kind of government is this?!”. He linked to an article with the headline “Germany is paying development aid for Afghanistan again.”
The federal government went to court and the Court of Appeal banned the statement that Germany had paid 370 million euros in development aid to the Taliban in November 2023. This was an untrue statement of fact. The average reader understands the article to mean that Germany paid aid directly to the Taliban. Reichelt saw his fundamental right to freedom of expression violated and turned to the Federal Constitutional Court.
This now proved him right. The Berlin decision actually violates his fundamental right to freedom of expression. When assessing a statement, the linguistic context must be taken into account, explained the Constitutional Court. The Court of Appeal ignored the context. The average reader recognizes that it was important to Reichelt to establish a substantive connection between his contribution and the linked news article.
In principle, the state must also withstand harsh and polemical criticism, stated the Constitutional Court. State institutions should also be protected from verbal attacks. However, they should not be shielded from public, even harsh, criticism, which should be particularly guaranteed by the fundamental right of freedom of expression.
The Constitutional Court explained that criticism is protected even if it mixes facts and opinions. It overturned the Berlin decision and referred it back to the Court of Appeal for a rehearing and decision.
