Publicist Paul Brandenburg Arrested at BER Airport

Paul Brandenburg, a publicist and prominent pandemic sceptic who operated COVID test centres in Berlin, was arrested by federal police at Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER) when he arrived with his ten-year-old child. He was brought before a judge the same day and remanded to JVA Moabit pre-trial detention centre. The arrest warrant covers six statements Brandenburg made between 30 October and 17 December 2025, in which he repeatedly insulted and defamed Governing Mayor Kai Wegner (CDU), including allegations that Wegner knowingly condoned sexual offences against minors. Prosecutors charged him in two cases with defamation of persons in political life and in four cases with insult. The warrant rests on the finding that Brandenburg had deregistered his last known residence without providing a new address. His attorney Viktoria Dannenmaier contested this, pointing out that the prosecution had been aware of his frequent presence in Germany through his online activity and that his child living in Berlin should also have been known to the authorities. Dannenmaier said she was unaware of comparable cases in which pre-trial detention had been ordered for insult offences. Brandenburg himself alleges that authorities deliberately arranged his arrest in front of his child to maximise the shock to the child. His detention has since been taken up by the AfD parliamentary group, which is calling for the abolition of the paragraph giving politicians enhanced protection against defamation. A hearing to review the detention is expected shortly; until then Brandenburg remains in JVA Moabit.