Compact: Federal Administrative Court suspends ban

The Federal Administrative Court has provisionally lifted the ban on the magazine Compact in summary proceedings. The Leipzig court ruled that the interest in suspending the immediate enforcement of the ban outweighed the public interest in enforcing it. In doing so, it referred to the freedom of opinion and freedom of the press guaranteed in the German constitution, especially as the print and online offerings are the focus of Compact Magazin GmbH's activities. A final decision is to be made in the main proceedings.

The Federal Ministry of the Interior banned Compact Magazin GmbH in mid-July this year, citing the law on associations. The printed magazine with a circulation of around 40,000 issues and the online publications have since been banned from further publication. The Ministry of the Interior also put a stop to the magazine's activities on social networks. Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser described the magazine as a "central mouthpiece of the right-wing extremist scene". The magazine incites hatred "in an unspeakable way against Jews, against people with a history of migration and against our parliamentary democracy".

Open prospects of success

The prospects of success of Compact Magazin GmbH's lawsuit against the ban are open, the court announced after a summary examination. It had no doubts as to whether the Associations Act was applicable in this case. There is also every indication that the prohibition order is formally lawful. However, it is currently not possible to conclusively assess whether this association fulfills the grounds for prohibition that it is directed against the constitutional order.

In terms of content, the judges in Leipzig found that individual statements in the print and online publications provided evidence of a violation of human dignity in particular, as set out in Article 1 (1) of the German Basic Law. There is also "overwhelming evidence" that Compact Magazin GmbH's rhetoric in many of its articles takes a combative and aggressive stance towards elementary constitutional principles.

However, the judges have doubts as to whether these articles are so influential that a ban is justified against the background of the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of opinion and freedom of the press. "After all, press and media law measures, event bans, location and event-related bans on expression as well as restrictions and bans on gatherings should be considered as possible milder means," writes the highest German administrative court.

(anw)