The German Journalists’ Association (DJV) on Thursday strongly condemned an attack on three reporters in the central German village of Fretterode, the site of a previous far-right incident.

Police said two men assaulted the journalists on Wednesday, using physical violence and a suspected irritant substance.

The suspects, aged 56 and 22, were believed to have tied to the far-right scene.

Both were detained but later released due to insufficient grounds for arrest.

The reporters, affiliated with Spiegel TV, a production company linked to the news magazine Der Spiegel, were treated in hospital for minor injuries and have since been discharged.

DJV official Mariana Friedrich criticised the attack as part of a troubling pattern.

“Absurdly, perpetrators can often feel safe precisely within the very rule of law that they seek to delegitimise and combat,” she said.

Friedrich referenced a similar 2018 attack in Fretterode, in which two journalists were seriously injured by alleged far-right extremists.

The Mühlhausen Regional Court initially handed down what Friedrich described as a lenient sentence; a new trial is now underway after the Federal Court of Justice overturned the earlier ruling.

“This crime proves that the initial judgment was not fit to defend press freedom and, by extension, our democracy,” Friedrich said, highlighting ongoing concerns about safety for media representatives in politically charged environments. 

(dpa/NAN)