The Dresden Regional Court has dismissed a lawsuit brought by the alleged sea rescuers from Mission Lifeline based in Dresden, Germany. In the election campaign for the office of Dresden mayor, the AfD-Dresden had criticized the “funding of smuggling organizations with tax money” in a leaflet, among other things.
The text went on to say: “With this money, this organization finances the passage of North Africans across the Mediterranean Sea into our social systems.”
The association wanted to have these statements banned in court. This week, they were defeated by a ruling which dismissed the lawsuit as unfounded. The statements were “not objectionable” the court found.
In addition, the “text passage does not constitute an inadmissible factual statement” and the terms “smuggler” or “smuggler organization” fall under the “protected area of freedom of opinion”.
The Dresden AfD candidate and EU parliamentarian Maximilian Krah commented on the outcome: “A ray of hope in terms of freedom of expression. The so-called sea rescuers consciously endanger human life in order to be able to feel like a rescuer. Anyone who actually wants to help people should create the opportunity to apply for asylum in Africa. As the UK is already doing.”
https://freewestmedia.com/2022/12/01/dresden-mission-lifeline-is-a-smuggler-organization/