The legal dispute over an AfD campaign advertisement featuring Heino ended in a settlement before the Landesgericht Innsbruck. The AfD’s Uckermark branch must pay a substantial four-figure sum, Heino’s manager Helmut Werner told the press. Earlier, the Märkische Oderzeitung had reported on the matter. In addition, AfD politician Felix Teichner apologized. “With that, the matter is settled for us,” Werner said.
Teichner, asked to comment on the settlement, said he would not discuss it, and asked not to comment further. The AfD state chairman, René Springer, also declined to comment.
Heino Had Sought 30,000 Euros in Damages
Originally, the folk singer Heino, who lives in Kitzbühel, Austria, filed a civil suit for non-material damages amounting to 30,000 euros with the district court. Teichner had written on social media before the Uckermark district election in April: “On Sunday Heino will vote for Felix.” “He would not have done that,” Heino’s manager Werner said at the time to justify the lawsuit. Werner argued that the AfD campaign advertisement provided fertile ground for portraying Heino in a right-wing political corner where he does not belong. He added that, in general, the settlement sends an important signal against unauthorized campaign advertising and serves as a lesson for all parties involved.
Poster with a Pink Triangle Against the Lesbian CDU County Administrator
Teichner clearly failed in the county election held on April 19: the openly lesbian CDU incumbent Karina Dörk won with 60 percent of the vote to Teichner’s 40 percent. Voter turnout stood at 55.3 percent. There were no other candidates. Teichner had also caused headlines with a poster targeting his lesbian CDU rival Dörk. The poster displayed an AI-generated photo of the county administrator, framed by a pink triangle—a symbol used in Nazi times to mark homosexual inmates in concentration camps. Teichner said he did not intend to invoke Nazi symbolism. Dörk described the poster as “below the belt” and said she would not shake his hand again until he removes it.
