Neo-Nazi party must pay for exploiting kids
The neo-Nazi NPD party must pay €12,000 in damages to 12 teenagers in northern Germany, after they were used in a party video without their parents' consent.
The use of the election campaign video which showed the teenage school pupils listening to a rant by right-wing extremist candidate Udo Pastörs should not have been shown on the NPD website, a court ruled on Friday, as the youths' parents had not given their consent.
Pastörs accosted the schoolchildren in the run up to local state elections in 2011 as they were out and about with their social studies teacher learning about election campaigning in Greifswald, Western Pomerania.
Cornering the group, the NPD candidate then spent over half an hour lecturing them while a party activist filmed the proceedings. The resulting 17-minute video was later posted to the party website without the knowledge of the underage pupils' parents - a contravention of press laws, as the court confirmed.
The right-wing extremist party had exploited the pupils, said the judge, but the teacher was also responsible, as he had failed to prevent Pastörs from spreading the ''propaganda rhetoric of the Third Reich'' to his pupils.
The administrative court in Schwerin ordered Frank Schwerdt, NPD vice president, was ordered to pay compensation of €1,000 to each of the pupils - half the sum the pupils had originally demanded.
Prosecution lawyer Johannes Menting said he was satisfied with the ruling, however, which confirmed that the NPD party was not allowed to raise its profile at the expense of young people.
DPA/The Local/jlb
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The use of the election campaign video which showed the teenage school pupils listening to a rant by right-wing extremist candidate Udo Pastörs should not have been shown on the NPD website, a court ruled on Friday, as the youths' parents had not given their consent.
Pastörs accosted the schoolchildren in the run up to local state elections in 2011 as they were out and about with their social studies teacher learning about election campaigning in Greifswald, Western Pomerania.
Cornering the group, the NPD candidate then spent over half an hour lecturing them while a party activist filmed the proceedings. The resulting 17-minute video was later posted to the party website without the knowledge of the underage pupils' parents - a contravention of press laws, as the court confirmed.
The right-wing extremist party had exploited the pupils, said the judge, but the teacher was also responsible, as he had failed to prevent Pastörs from spreading the ''propaganda rhetoric of the Third Reich'' to his pupils.
The administrative court in Schwerin ordered Frank Schwerdt, NPD vice president, was ordered to pay compensation of €1,000 to each of the pupils - half the sum the pupils had originally demanded.
Prosecution lawyer Johannes Menting said he was satisfied with the ruling, however, which confirmed that the NPD party was not allowed to raise its profile at the expense of young people.
DPA/The Local/jlb
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