Germany’s appeal court has banned a tweet by Reichelt, a well-known journalist of the online medium Nius. Reichelt’s lawyer Joachim Steinhofel is angry. “We have a government that is afraid of journalists and their opinions.” The reason for the ban was: the tweet was “likely to impair the confidence of the population in the work of the Federal Republic of Germany… and its functionality.”
Former “Bild” boss Julian Reichelt complained on X (Twitter) about payments from the Federal Republic to Afghanistan. He shared a NIUS report titled “Germany is paying development aid to Afghanistan again”. “Since the Taliban came to power in Afghanistan two years ago, the federal government has provided €371 million for development assistance in the country,” it said. Reichelt commented: “We live in a madhouse” and condemned “development aid to the Taliban”.
Federal Development Minister Svenja Schulze (SPD) then intervened and took legal action against the journalist. The ministry argued. According to the FAZ report, the Taliban does not receive any money, but the Afghan population is supported outside the government, notably through the World Bank, UN organizations and non-governmental organizations.
Reichelt’s lawyer Joachim Steinhöfel spoke at the time of the “threat” and stressed the journalist’s freedom of expression. Due to the recent decision of the Chamber Court, Reichelt tweeted: “We are seeing the end of freedom of the press before our eyes.”
