Salzburg Festival: Court rejects a lawsuit against critics!

Salzburg Festival: Court rejects a lawsuit against critics!

Salzburg, Österreich - The legal dispute between the Salzburg Festival and the cultural journalist Axel Brüggemann goes into the next round - and again the festival draw the shorter ones. As reported by orf.at , the warnings that the festival players had submitted due to supposed violations of personality law were rejected by the Hamburg Regional Court. The festival demanded omissions and took action against Brüggemann with a total of 100,000 euros. But the judges made it clear that the journalist may continue to write critically about the festival.

The trigger for the legal steps were Brüggemann's critical reports, which from the point of view of the festival contained personality rights -violating statements. The director Markus Hinterhäuser and the Salzburg Festival Fund saw themselves damaged by the published content in their reputation and submitted complaints. According to Brüggemann, the Higher Regional Court confirmed that there was no violation of corporate or general personal rights. This underlines that it is legitimate to report grievances within the festival, including the termination of the acting director Marina Davydova.

second judgment and further steps

In the trial, Brüggemann committed to omission in three out of ten points, since he himself admitted mistakes in his reports. Nevertheless, he refused to meet the plaintiffs on the remaining points and prepared himself for a legal proceedings, which has now been completed. Despite the defeat in the second instance, the festival does not seem to be willing to give up and have already lodged a complaint against the decision. As Salzburg24.at , however, is strong in public criticism-especially because of his approaches to the \ "Mundtotung \" Critics.