Overview
- The ruling on Tuesday holds two activists liable for entering a Lohne slaughterhouse in spring 2024, secretly filming pigs being stunned with high‑concentration CO2, and posting the recordings on Instagram.
- The court found the videos authentic and not untrue but said that truthful reporting cannot excuse illegal entry or unauthorised distribution, so both activists must pay for the harm caused.
- OLG Oldenburg declined the operator’s request for a blanket ban on future social‑media posts and moved the precise calculation of damages to a separate civil hearing.
- The activists face a parallel criminal trespass investigation and have said they will seek review at the Federal Court of Justice while warning that potential damages near €100,000 could be ruinous.
- The judgment emphasises that CO2 group‑stunning is a legally recognised method used across the EU and that any change to permitted slaughter methods must proceed through political or administrative channels rather than unlawful evidence‑gathering.