Defeat in Karlsruhe
Dispute over former chancellor quotes: Kohl’s widow fails before the Federal Constitutional Court
Maike Richter-Kohl is fighting in court for compensation for controversial quotes from the late former Chancellor Helmut Kohl (archive image)
© Rolf Vennenbernd / DPA
The Federal Constitutional Court does not accept the dispute over quotations from the deceased former Chancellor Helmut Kohl. Thus, his widow fails in the last instance.
In the ongoing legal dispute over passages in a book about the deceased former Chancellor Helmut Kohl, his widow suffered a defeat before the Federal Constitutional Court. The court announced on Thursday in Karlsruhe that it would not accept Maike Kohl-Richter’s constitutional complaints against judgments by the Federal Court of Justice and the Cologne Higher Regional Court. With the judgments, only some of the controversial quotations were banned, and the courts also denied Kohl-Richter compensation. (Ref. 1 BvR 19/22 and 1 BvR 110/22)
The book “Legacy – The Kohl Protocols” was published in 2014 while Kohl was still alive. It contained numerous partly negative statements that he is said to have made about other politicians. In court, the former chancellor managed to ensure that certain passages were not allowed to be distributed further. He also claimed compensation of one million euros.
Constant dispute about quotations from Helmut Kohl
After Kohl’s death, the Cologne Higher Regional Court and later the Federal Court of Justice ruled that Kohl-Richter was not entitled to this compensation. Such a claim for violation of personality rights is not hereditary. Some of the quotes may not be published, other passages are still being negotiated by the Cologne Higher Regional Court.