German Culture Minister drops appeal in bookstore extremism dispute

Germany's Minister of State for Culture, Wolfram Weimer, has withdrawn his legal challenge against a court ruling that temporarily prohibits him from calling bookstore operators "political extremists." The decision by the Berlin Administrative Court is now final, meaning Weimer cannot repeat the statement pending a full trial.

Weimer made the controversial remark about the operators of the "Zur schwankenden Weltkugel" bookstore in a March interview with ZEIT magazine. The court's preliminary injunction, issued by a court spokesperson, forbids him from using the label until the main case is resolved. The bookstore, along with two others, had sued Weimer after he excluded them from the German Bookstore Prize.

Weimer justified the exclusion by citing "intelligence relevant to the constitution." However, the specific details of the information against the three shops have never been publicly disclosed. The ongoing legal dispute will determine the full merits of Weimer's decision and the bookstore operators' claims. The court has yet to schedule a date for hearing these main proceedings.