GERMANY’S socialist daily Junge Welt published a special eight-page supplement at the weekend on Defending Democratic Rights, ahead of a court case next month challenging state persecution of the newspaper.

The Morning Star’s sister paper has appeared routinely in the annual reports of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution since 1998, designated a threat for its “left-wing extremist political ideas,” with its stated opposition to capitalism deemed dangerous to the German constitution.

Junge Welt’s publisher Mai.8 launched a legal challenge in 2021, with a court hearing now due on July 18. It argues the designation breaches Article 5 of Germany’s Basic Law on freedom of the press.