In the case of reporting on comedian Luke Mockridge, the Hamburg Regional Court issued an injunction on Tuesday against the mirror confirmed. Under the title “The Mockridge Files”, the news magazine reported on several pages in September about the public dispute between Mockridge and his ex-partner and colleague Ines Anioli. She accuses him of rape, he denies this. In July 2019, she reported that the public prosecutor’s investigations were closed in two instances. The public prosecutor responsible did not see sufficient suspicion due to discrepancies in Aniolis’ statements and based on the evidence, which is often the case with assaults in one’s own bedroom. In addition, there was the possibility “of potential for suggestion”, the public prosecutor did not rule out that Anioli had been influenced in her perception of the incidents or in her testimony by third parties.
The district court of Hamburg judged the mirror-Report already in December as inadmissible reporting of suspicions and prohibited central parts. Even if the public interest in the case is high, the report violated the principles of the presumption of innocence and Luke Mockridge’s personal rights were violated. Against the injunction had the mirror An objection was filed, which the court has now rejected, pointing out that legal proceedings that have already been discontinued may only be reported if new suspicions arise. The decision called the mirror “unsurprisingly” on Tuesday.
For the mirror the suspicions exist in Mockridge’s misconduct towards several women, especially in nightlife. The women anonymously state that he behaved intrusively in clubs and discotheques. For the court, there is no evidence that Ines Anioli’s allegations are correct. The most serious of these accusations comes from another of Mockridge’s ex-girlfriends, but the text had to be shortened some time ago after a court ruling.
Der Spiegel is again allowed to report on allegations of harassment by two other women
The district court of Cologne, where Mockridge’s lawyer had sued before the Hamburg court, has forbidden a passage from the statement in which the ex-girlfriend accuses Mockridge of having forced her to do sexual things. In contrast to the Hamburg Regional Court, in Cologne the reporting of suspicions was generally considered permissible, but this passage was judged to be an infringement of privacy.
Mockridge’s lawyer Simon Bergmann said on Tuesday: “It is important for us that the district court of Hamburg mirror objection against the prohibition of the allegations made by Ms. Anioli”, this is the essence of the article.
What the magazine is allowed to name again after the new court decision are the allegations of harassment by two women who are not named in the text. One describes that Mockridge harassed her in a Cologne discotheque in 2014. The other, he pushed her against the wall in a club in Hanover in 2019. The OLG had that mirror banned that portion of reporting in January with an injunction. On the other hand, he had mirror first objected. Shortly before the Hamburg Regional Court began to negotiate, the magazine itself issued a cease-and-desist declaration and undertook not to publish future articles without the additional sentence “It cannot be clarified whether and to what extent the allegations are true”. In this way, the Hamburg Regional Court considers the reporting of the allegations of the two to be permissible and has the objection of the mirror granted in relation thereto. The decisions are not yet final. Mockridge’s lawyer wants to claim damages for his client for the damage caused to his reputation. the mirror stated that he intends to exhaust all legal remedies so that the text can appear in its entirety.