Overview

• Stefan Gelbhaar, a Green Party politician, is seeking €1.7 million in damages from RBB for false reporting on sexual misconduct allegations that derailed his Bundestag candidacy.
• The demand includes €500,000 for reputational harm and the remainder for lost income as a Bundestag member, which he claims he would have secured if not for the reporting.
• RBB has admitted to serious journalistic errors, including relying on fabricated testimony from a non-existent source, and has retracted parts of its coverage.
• Gelbhaar lost his spot on the Green Party's candidate list and his direct candidacy for Berlin-Pankow, following the allegations, which he has consistently denied.
• An external investigation into RBB's handling of the case is ongoing, with results expected in early March, but Gelbhaar has rejected the broadcaster's apology as premature.