German politician wins partial victory in suit against TV satirist

A German politician who once led the government’s IT security agency won a court victory against star comedian Jan Böhmermann’s TV programme over a segment that ridiculed him for alleged ties to Russia.

A court in Munich took issue with four specific statements Böhmermann made during a segment about Arne Schönbohm, the then-head of Germany’s Office for Information Security (BSI), in a 2022 episode of his widely watched satirical programme ZDF Magazin Royale.

But the court denied Schönbohm’s demand for €100,000 ($104,000) in monetary compensation from public broadcaster ZDF, instead only ordering the broadcaster to cease disseminating the claims.

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser dismissed Schönbohm as BSI president in November 2022, only shortly after Böhmermann ridiculed him for supposedly being too close to a trade group that had alleged contacts to Russian intelligence services.

Schönbohm fought back against his dismissal, and he is now the president of the Federal Academy of Public Administration, an agency in the Interior Ministry which trains public administrators.

The court ruled that two statements made during the programme in particular could be “understood to mean that the plaintiff had deliberate contacts with Russian intelligence services,” which constituted “an untrue statement of fact that violated the plaintiff’s general right of personality.”

A satirical statement must also be measured against the standards of freedom of expression if it concerns the factual core of the statement, the court said.

In a statement distributed by his lawyer, Markus Hennig, Schönbohm called for personnel consequences at ZDF.

“With completely unfounded accusations, Jan Böhmermann has destroyed my integrity and irreparably destroyed my career,” Schönbohm said in the statement, which also described the segment and its fallout as a “media execution.”

ZDF did not immediately comment on the verdict, but said that a statement on the case would be forthcoming.

The ruling is not yet legally binding and may still be appealed.

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