Nov 6, 7:01 AM
Erfurt Prosecutors Drop Investigation into Harassment of Apollo News Journalists
Authorities cited a lack of public interest and noted that most attacks on media workers originate from the political right.
Public prosecutors in Erfurt have discontinued an investigation into an activist involved in harassing reporters from the media outlet Apollo News during anti-AfD demonstrations in Thuringia. The public prosecutor's office cited a lack of public interest in initiating a criminal prosecution for insult on behalf of the state.
In the written notification delivered to the affected journalists in October, the authority stated that the breach of legal peace did not extend beyond the immediate circle of the victims. The prosecutors noted in their justification that while the overall number of physical and verbal attacks on media professionals was rising, the vast majority of such incidents originated from the political right.
The authority further stated that lawmakers had intentionally decided against creating specific statutory criminal protections for journalists, unlike those granted to public officials and politicians. In addition, the prosecutors pointed out that the suspect, an Erfurt comic shop owner identified in legal documents as Henry K., had no prior criminal record and that the verbal abuse occurred within a politically heated assembly context.
The case stems from an incident on July 4, when demonstrators gathered at Gothaer Platz in Erfurt to protest against the federal party convention of the Alternative for Germany (AfD). According to video footage of the event, a group of several individuals trailed the three-person reporting team for over a minute, shouting obscenities, making offensive gestures, and physically pushing them from the square.
Following the decision by prosecutors to drop the criminal complaint filed by the journalists in mid-July, the reporters are restricted to filing a private criminal action. Under German criminal procedure, plaintiffs in private prosecutions must bear court costs and legal fees if the complaint is rejected or the defendant is acquitted.
Written by Thorben Thiede thorben.thiede@alpineweekly.com
