DAt the end of August, Federal Development Aid Minister Svenja Schulze (SPD) sent out a cease-and-desist order against the former “Bild” editor-in-chief Julian Reichelt and was immediately sued.
Statement of fact or expression of opinion?
According to the ministry, Reichelt should refrain from writing what he wrote on Twitter/X. It said: “In the last two years, Germany paid 370 million euros (!!!) in development aid to the Taliban (!!!!!!).” This is what the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development says, transmitted by the lawyer Christian Schertz, is a false statement of fact. Reichelt’s lawyer Joachim Steinhöfel replied that this was an expression of opinion and the ministry was not entitled to demand that Reichelt refrain from making this statement.
For this reason, Steinhöfel has filed a “negative declaratory action” before the Hamburg Regional Court: The court should therefore determine that the ministry has no right to demand that Reichelt refrain from making the comment made on Twitter. There is no right to injunctive relief against expressing an opinion. A civil law protection of the minister’s honor cannot be considered as a reason for an injunction because, as a sovereign, Reichelt’s admission will not seriously affect her in the state function she performs.
Money to Afghanistan, but not to the Taliban?
The ministry had pointed out that no money was flowing to the Taliban and that “the Afghan population was only supported outside of the government via the World Bank, UN organizations and non-governmental organizations”. There is “no collaboration with the de facto authorities” and no money flows “to the institutions of the de facto authorities”.
The request to Reichelt to refrain from making statements in his tweet is not lacking in the threat of a contractual penalty, which would have to be determined in court, but surprisingly in the reference that legal action will be taken immediately if the cease-and-desist declaration is not made.
Reichelt’s lawyer sees the approach as an “intimidation strategy” against journalists and an attack on press freedom. He also wonders why the ministry, which has its own lawyers, has to seek additional legal support. And he states that the Federal Republic of Germany is of the opinion that “even one tweet by the plaintiff with a permissible expression of opinion has led to a serious impairment of the federal government’s functioning.”
In response to an inquiry from the FAZ, the ministry stated that it was true that Julian Reichelt had been asked to submit a cease-and-desist declaration in which he “withdrew his incorrect claim that the federal government had paid 370 million euros to the Taliban.” He rejected this. The ministry was neither served nor announced with a lawsuit against its own company.
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