Overview
- The Berlin civil chamber rejected an emergency injunction from Thuringia’s AfD organizations seeking to block a Handelsblatt article.
- In its reasoning, the court said Interior Minister Georg Maier’s espionage suspicion rested on vague, not further substantiated conjectures.
- The judges noted that official statements do not warrant heightened trust when they lack a sustainable factual basis for suspicion.
- Applicants were ordered to bear the costs, and the decision is not yet final as further legal steps remain possible.
- AfD figures signaled potential appeals and legal action against Maier, whose remarks referenced 47 parliamentary inquiries in Thuringia over 12 months.