Court: Criticism of “OAZ” by “Volksverpetzer” Is Permitted

The “Ostdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung” (“OAZ”) has no right to demand that the blog portal “Volksverpetzer” refrain from making critical statements. The Dresden Higher Regional Court (OLG) dismissed a complaint to that effect filed by the “OAZ” on Tuesday.

According to the court, the case concerned an article by “Volksverpetzer” in which the authors critically examined the reporting of an “OAZ” editor. According to the court’s account, they accused him of, among other things, “trivializing and sympathetic reporting” on anthroposophical groups such as the ethno-nationalist “Anastasia” movement, which is under observation by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution.

The “OAZ” and the author of the article viewed certain phrasing and statements in the article as false claims and sought a preliminary injunction requiring the authors to refrain from making such claims in the future. In the first instance, the “OAZ” had already failed in its case before the Dresden Regional Court in early June.

Court: Freedom of Speech Rather Than Criminal Defamation

Specifically, the case concerned, among other things, parts of the article in which the “OAZ” author was described as a “denier of facts” and an “anthroposophy official.” The court deemed the statements permissible, “because they were not provable factual claims, but rather expressions of opinion that did not constitute criminal defamation or abusive criticism,” according to a press release. 

The “OAZ” was first published in late February with a print run of approximately 43,000 copies. Currently, the newspaper is published in print every Friday; on other days, a digital edition, including an e-paper, is available. The newspaper is published by the newly founded Ostdeutscher Verlag, which, like Berliner Verlag (“Berliner Zeitung”), is part of Ostdeutsche Medienholding GmbH.