The court thus invalidated the Home Ministry´s decision to ban the publication of the magazine as of July 2024.

The Basic Law guarantees freedom of speech and press even to enemies of the Constitution, the presiding judge, Ingo Kraft, justified, acknowledging that the magazine often publishes controversial opinions.

However, the judges decided that the line of unconstitutionality has not been breached.

In December 2021, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (German counterintelligence) classified the magazine as proven right-wing extremist.

According to its assessment, Compact distributes anti-Semitic, minority-hostile and historically revisionist material. On July 16, 2024, the German Ministry of the Interior announced a ban on the magazine; searches were conducted at the publication’s offices and at the homes of its employees in several cities.

The order stated that the activities of the publication, headed by well-known publicist Jürgen Elsaesser, allegedly violate the constitutional order.

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