At the end of April 2018, two journalists from Göttingen were investigating the local neo-Nazi scene in Fretterode, Thuringia. They were discovered. During their escape, they were pursued by car by two members of the far-right spectrum – Gianluca K. and Nordulf H., son and political protégé, respectively, of neo-Nazi leader Thorsten Heise – and after the chase, attacked with a baseball bat, knife, wrench, and pepper spray. One journalist suffered a stab wound, the other a skull fracture; their camera equipment was stolen.

On September 15, 2022, the Mühlhausen Regional Court convicted the two defendants only of dangerous bodily harm, sentencing them to a one-year suspended sentence and community service, respectively, under juvenile criminal law. The prosecution's request for a conviction on charges of aggravated robbery and consideration of the neo-Nazi motive behind the crime were disregarded. On April 13, 2024, the Federal Court of Justice overturned this judgment on appeal by the prosecution and the prosecution due to significant deficiencies in the evaluation of evidence and remanded the case to a different chamber of the Mühlhausen Regional Court.

After more than a year and a half without a scheduled hearing and despite repeated complaints of delay from the co-plaintiffs, the new main trial only began on December 22, 2025. The court had initially scheduled only eight trial days extending into May 2026; the NSU Watch trial monitoring group is overseeing the proceedings. After roughly eight years of proceedings, the journalists affected see little redress or effective protection from the Thuringian justice system.

This special page documents the course of the proceedings and the legal support provided by the law firm in the form of our communications and press releases.