Overview

• The court in Leipzig dismissed Martin Wagener’s lawsuit and left intact a 10% pay cut for two years imposed by the BND in May 2024.
• Judges found his 2021 book advanced an ethnic-cultural concept of the people not contained in the Basic Law and devalued citizens with foreign roots.
• The ruling held that Wagener breached his duty as a civil servant to act respectfully and preserve necessary trust, which academic freedom does not override.
• Wagener teaches trainees and officials of the Federal Intelligence Service at the Federal University and had already failed with an internal objection to the penalty.
• A separate case in August at the Frankfurt Regional Court deemed the book’s statements protected by free expression, but the administrative decision turned on civil-service conduct obligations.