Ban on linksunten.indymedia.org: Legal representatives of the alleged operators of linksunten.indymedia.org file lawsuits before the Federal Administrative Court

Following the ban on the internet platform linksunten.indymedia.org under association law by the Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI) in the summer of 2017, the legal representatives of the persons identified as alleged operators have now substantiated their lawsuits against the ban before the Federal Administrative Court.

The legal arguments challenge the Federal Ministry of the Interior's (BMI) prohibition order on several grounds. According to the arguments, the BMI lacks jurisdiction to take action against an online platform; rather, the supervisory authorities under the applicable telemedia law are responsible. In the case of linksunten.indymedia.org, this would have been the Baden-Württemberg State Media Authority, which is sensitive to press freedom. However, this authority never criticized the online platform linksunten.indymedia.org, let alone took any legal action against it. Even if association law were applicable, the platform should have been given the opportunity to block any criminal or unconstitutional content before a complete ban. This would have allowed the courts to clarify beforehand whether the platform actually contained any criminal and/or unconstitutional content attributable to it.

“Contrary to procedural requirements, we have so far only seen a fraction of the administrative files and have had to submit numerous requests for evidence and documentation. The Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI) seems to be stalling for time. However, we can already say that, in our opinion, the BMI has overstepped its authority and abused association law for political reasons in order to get rid of a critical news platform,” criticizes Göttingen-based lawyer Sven Adam, referring to the actions of the authority under the then-leadership of Thomas de Maizière.
“Furthermore, the content of the platform presented to us by the BMI in the legal proceedings as supposed evidence of its illegality and unconstitutionality cannot justify a ban. Instead, even the supposedly incriminating ‘evidence’ shows a lively and, above all, critical exchange of opinions among the users, and certainly not an uncritical reference to supposedly illegal and/or unconstitutional purposes. Therefore, the BMI has done nothing more than ban the press,” adds Jena-based lawyer Kristin Pietrzyk, providing a concluding assessment of the portal.   

For further questions, particularly regarding the specific additional content of the statement of claim, the listed legal representatives are available at the contact details provided.

Background: On Friday, August 25, 2017, the Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI) ordered searches of the homes of individuals identified as members of an association and simultaneously served them with a prohibition order against the allegedly existing association linksunten.indymedia.org. Five lawsuits (case numbers: BVerwG 1 A 11.17, 1 A 12.17, 1 A 13.17, 1 A 14.17, 1 A 15.17) are pending before the Federal Administrative Court (BVerwG), as well as various appeals and main proceedings against the search and seizure measures before the Administrative Courts (VG) in Freiburg and Karlsruhe.