The District Court in Karlsruhe will start hearing the case against the editor of a Freiburg-based free radio station on 18 April. With the Public Prosecutor’s Office eager to prosecute, the freedom of the press for left-wingers is at stake.
On 18 April, the trial against an editor of the independent radio station Dreyeckland from Freiburg is due to begin at the District Court in Karlsruhe. Fabian Kienert is accused of supporting “Indymedia Linksunten”. The open-posting internet platform, which was once popular with left-wing groups, was banned under the law of associations by Federal Minister of the Interior Thomas de Maizière ( Christian Democratic Union, CDU) in 2017.
The Public Prosecutor General considers a brief report on the discontinuation of an investigation in connection with the ban on “Linksunten” to be a criminal act of support. Kienert had published this message on the radio station’s website with a picture of graffiti, his name and a link to an archive of “Linksunten”. In January 2023, the Public Prosecutor’s Office therefore had the homes of the editor, the managing director and the editorial offices of Radio Dreyeckland searched.
“The investigations were originally triggered by a Freiburg state security officer, who has been conspicuous for many years for his particular investigative zeal against left-wingers and now apparently knows no bounds,” says Mehmet Güner from the “Soliwelle Dreyeckland” support group.
The supporters write on their website that the Karlsruhe Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Local Court have not observed any constitutional limits either. “Only the Karlsruhe District Court seemed to want to pay attention to freedom of the press and proportionality,” they continue. In fact, the Distric Court had initially refused to open proceedings against Kienert and declared the searches unlawful.
However, following an appeal by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the Stuttgart Higher Regional Court allowed the charges to go ahead and referred the case back to the District Court. This success was apparently not enough for the Public Prosecutor responsible for state security matters, Manuel Graulich: on the grounds of the Higher Regional Court, the judiciary proceeded with further house searches against five people in Freiburg. They are alleged to have operated the incriminated platform that Kienert is said to have supported with his report.
The public prosecutor’s office and police had already been investigating the same five people since 2017 in connection with the ban on the left-wing internet platform for forming a criminal organisation. These proceedings were discontinued in 2022 – this was the reason for Kienert’s report and ultimately led to the raids.
“The state security prosecutor’s office in Karlsruhe and the chamber of the Stuttgart Higher Regional Court want to use criminal law to decide what reporting on the ban of a left-wing media platform should look like,” commented Mehmet Güner from the circle of supporters. The criminal proceedings against the journalist Kienert as well as the renewed investigations against the five Freiburg leftists are clearly politically motivated, he says. “The aim is to restrict the freedom of the press for left-wingers, to investigate left-wing structures and to intimidate them”.
“The prosecution fails to recognise the importance of freedom of the press,” Kienert’s lawyer Angela Furmaniak also told “nd”. In view of the evidence, however, the criminal lawyer is confident that the trial will end in an acquittal.
First, the court must clarify whether the static archive of “Linksunten” (here as a copy), to which Kienert had linked in the original, can be considered a continuation of the banned platform at all. The presiding judge Axel Heim wants to take his time on this: A total of nine trial days have been scheduled in the criminal proceedings until 6 June.
Published in German in „nd“.
Image: Fabian Kienert used this picture to report on the closure of an investigation into the formation of a criminal organisation. However, the Public Prosecutor’s Office believes that he supported this particular organisation with his report (Radio Dreyeckland).
