DESG loses case against ARD and Hajo Seppelt

“The decisions that have now been made fully confirm the ARD reporting and prohibit Mr. Große from making untenable statements about Hajo Seppelt’s work,” said ARD sports coordinator Axel Balkausky: “After the Hamburg regional court previously confirmed ARD’s Olympic reporting on DESG in large parts in the injunction proceedings, I see the investigative sports reporting of ARD and Hajo Seppelt’s team once again strengthened.”

The most recent decision in Hamburg involved statements by former DESG coach Peter Mueller, according to which he still does not know the background to his non-extension of his contract at the end of the 2023/24 season. The regional court recognized the ARD’s reporting “in the present context not as an untrue statement of fact, but as a permissible expression of opinion”.

In the first trial, the ARD was right on four out of five points

Before the Berlin Regional Court, Seppelt had also criticized Große’s statements, which the DESG President had published verbatim on various platforms. Große had written: “Our Olympic starters felt like they were being stalked by Mr. Seppelt during the Olympic Games because he was lying in wait for them on the ice and annoying them with questions.” However, Seppelt was not in Milan during the Winter Games, but at the broadcast center in Mainz. The ARD has filed a demand for the omission of the same statements before the Hamburg Regional Court. The process is still ongoing.

The Hamburg Regional Court had previously ruled in favor of ARD in four out of five cases in an initial trial and thus declared a report on alleged abuses in the speed skating association that was broadcast during the Winter Games in Milan to be largely admissible. But the legal dispute does not end there.

Große, 58, reacted to the reporting after the Winter Games with a sensational press conference in Berlin. The journalists Seppelt and Jörg Mebus were not admitted to the event, which was sharply criticized by the ARD and journalists’ associations. Große said at the time: “People who denounce me and lead my association to the slaughter, I only share the courtroom with them.” He later announced that he would go through “all necessary authorities”.

DESG lawyer Norman Buse had recently declared that he would appeal against the first decision in Hamburg. Now, in response to SID’s request, he announced that he would also challenge the next judgment and assert DESG’s injunctive relief: “Our clients will not accept this incorrect decision and will lodge an immediate appeal.” One is “optimistic” that the Hamburg Higher Regional Court will correct the decision in favor of his client. In the proceedings in Berlin it is still to be decided whether an objection will be lodged against the decision.