Court suspends publishing ban on far-right German magazine

BERLIN (Reuters) -A German court on Wednesday overturned a publishing ban on Compact magazine, described by the government as a “mouthpiece of the right-wing extremist scene”, pending a final decision on efforts to outlaw the publication.

Germany’s interior ministry said last month it would ban the magazine, which has a circulation of 40,000 and a wide-reaching social media presence.

The administrative court in the eastern city of Leipzig said it was not currently possible to determine whether Compact met the grounds for prohibition on the basis of opposing constitutional order.

The court found evidence of the publication violating human dignity but said upholding a free press took precedence in its decision to overturn the ban, according to a statement.

Compact editor-in-chief, Juergen Elsaesser, hailed the decision as a victory and voiced his confidence that the magazine would win its overall appeal.

The interior ministry responded to the court decision by saying it had presented a comprehensive justification for the ban, based on intelligence from security authorities and would continue to present this case against Compact.

“It is to be feared that recipients of the media products will be stirred up by the publications, which also aggressively propagate the overthrow of the political order, and encouraged to act against the constitutional order,” the ministry said in a statement.

Compact is aligned with the radical wing of the Alternative for Germany (AfD), which has grown in recent years from a fringe eurosceptic party to one of Germany’s main opposition forces, despite being under state surveillance as a suspected threat to democracy.

(Reporting by Rachel More and Alexander Ratz; Editing by Bernadette Baum)