A German magazine’s fate to be decided by a Leipzig court
The Leipzig Administrative Court is set to deliver a verdict on June 24, concluding a high-stakes case surrounding the ban of the German magazine Compact. The court wrapped up the evidence presentation on Wednesday, rendering the previously scheduled Thursday session unnecessary.
At the heart of the dispute is the legality of the ban imposed by the Federal Ministry of the Interior in July 2024, citing the German Associations Act. The former Interior Minister, Nancy Faeser, had invoked this law to prohibit the operations of the Compact-Magazin GmbH and a connected company, citing the magazine as a “mouthpiece for the right-extremist scene.” The Leipzig Administrative Court had already partially suspended the immediate enforcement of the ban in August 2024, allowing the magazine to temporarily resume publication.
If the court ultimately rules in favor of the ban, the magazine’s defenders have already threatened to take the case to the German Federal Constitutional Court and, as a last resort, to the European Court of Human Rights.