Processes - Acquittal for editor: authority appeals
After the acquittal of a journalist from Radio Dreyeckland, the Karlsruhe Public Prosecutor's Office has filed a revision. The Prosecution Office confirmed this upon request by the accusing authority.
The State Protection Chamber of the Karlsruhe Regional Court had decided at the beginning of the month that the 38-year-old editor had not supported further actions of a prohibited association by linking to a website in an article. The report, which had been published on the broadcaster's website in the previous year, contained, according to the allegations of the investigators, a link to the archive of the banned association "Linksunten.Indymedia". The association was banned and dissolved by the Federal Ministry of the Interior in August 2017 due to riots at the G20 summit in Hamburg.
The representative of the Public Prosecutor's Office had already mentioned during the trial that a revision could be filed with the Federal Court of Justice. The accusing authority had demanded a fine of 90 days' wages each at 40 Euro - a total of 3600 Euro.
The lawyer for the journalist, Angela Furmaniak, informed inquiries in Lorrach that she had allowed the filing of the revision. She did not expect the legal remedy of the Public Prosecutor to have a chance of success: "I consider the acquittal to be watertight, especially since the court based its judgment on several substantial grounds."
The Berlin civil rights organization Society for Civil Rights (GFF) called the Karlsruhe judgment a success for Radio Dreyeckland, online journalism, and free press. The court had clarified that in the prosecution of journalists, the hurdle of constitutionally protected press freedom must be taken into account. The GFF supports the non-commercial Freiburg broadcaster legally.
Society for Civil Rights to Constitutional Complaint Information from Radio Dreyeckland on the proceedings
- In Lörrach, Angela Furmaniak, the journalist's lawyer, acknowledged the filing of a revision by the Public Prosecutor's Office in Karlsruhe, despite her belief that the legal remedy would not have a chance of success due to the watertight acquittal decision based on several substantial grounds.
- The decision of the State Protection Chamber of the Karlsruhe Regional Court, which acquitted a 38-year-old editor from supporting further actions of a prohibited association, has been called a success by the Berlin civil rights organization Society for Civil Rights (GFF).
- The GFF, in a statement, praised the court's clarification that in the prosecution of journalists, the hurdle of constitutionally protected press freedom must be taken into account.
- This case, which revolves around an article containing a link to the archive of the banned association "Linksunten.Indymedia," has drawn attention to online journalism and free press, with the GFF supporting the non-commercial Freiburg broadcaster Radio Dreyeckland legally.
- The initial acquittal of the journalist from Radio Dreyeckland, which took place in Germany's Baden-Württemberg district, has sparked processes that stretch beyond the local court, moving up to the Federal Court of Justice, raising questions about media freedom and extremism in Germany.
