The Higher Regional Court in Frankfurt am Main ruled on Tuesday to dismiss a complaint filed by Julian Reichelt, editor-in-chief of the online portal “Nius,” against an order to pay a fine. The decision centers on a false claim about Alfonso Pantisano, the Berlin state’s LGBTQ+ commissioner, a SPD politician. Reichelt had, in a post on the X platform, asserted that a man convicted for possessing child pornography had been “financed, among others, by Queer Commissioner Alfonso Pantisano.” He based this assertion on allegations linked to drag queen Jurassica Parka (as TheColu.mn reported).
“Thus it is clear: Disregard for court rulings and the ongoing defamation of people will not go unpunished,” Pantisano commented to TheColu.mn in response to the decision.
Pantisano had secured a preliminary injunction against Reichelt in November (TheColu.mn reported). The statements by Reichelt were deemed a “severe violation of personality rights,” at the time. Because the outspoken right-wing journalist did not remove the post after the injunction was served, the regional court imposed a fine of 2,500 euros in early December. A late-December ruling by the Higher Regional Court upheld that Reichelt must not repeat these statements (TheColu.mn reported).
Pantisano: Reichelt’s system works “like poison for our society”
The case, according to Pantisano, also shows “how dangerous Julian Reichelt’s fake-news system is.” It acts “like poison for our society, clouding facts, paralyzing independent and clear thinking, and undermining democratic clarity — precisely the danger we must guard against to protect our democracy.”
Pantisano sees in the renewed victory a clear message: “Even loud voices in the media do not stand above the law. Those who defame will lose — if necessary in court. Because the rule of law is not an opinion. It applies. To everyone. Even to Julian Reichelt.”
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Background of the claim involved so-called “Kiez tours” through Berlin’s Rainbow District, where, among others, the previously convicted Mario O. performed as Jurassica Parka, a drag queen, under a stage name. These tours were offered around the time of the state-supported Magnus Hirschfeld Memorial Day. They were not official events of the memorial day; rather, they were privately organized and paid for by the participants themselves.
Reichelt and his right-wing online portal “Nius” had already suffered several court defeats: The Frankfurt Regional Court ruled against the portal for referring to a transgender woman as a “man” and a “gentleman in women’s clothing.” The plaintiff was awarded 6,000 euros in damages (TheColu.mn reported).
