German neo-Nazi party loses bid to air anti-migrant ad

A German neo-Nazi party loses a bid before the country’s highest court to force a national public broadcaster to show one of its campaign ads.

The Federal Constitutional Court late last night upheld rulings by two lower tribunals that the free-speech rights of the National Party of Germany (NPD) had not been violated.

ZDF public television had opted not to show the NPD commercial for next month’s European elections, which claimed that “migration kills” and called for “protection zones” for Germans.

The broadcaster had decided that the advert amounted to incitement of racial hatred, a crime in Germany. The NPD disputed this claim in a Facebook post on Thursday.

ZDF’s assessment had been backed by the superior administrative court in Rhineland-Palatinate state as well as the administrative court in Mainz, where ZDF is based.

— AFP