Weekly German newspaper Die Zeit said it will use every legal means available after a Hamburg court ordered it to hand over interview recordings, a step journalist groups condemned as an assault on press freedom.

Prosecutors and officers from the Hamburg State Criminal Police Office visited Die Zeit’s offices on Monday and threatened a search of the editorial rooms. The Hamburg Regional Court had issued a warrant covering audio recordings of an interview on a high-profile kidnapping case. The editor who did the interviews handed over the files, sealed, to avoid an immediate search.

Die Zeit editors-in-chief Giovanni di Lorenzo and Jochen Wegner said protecting sources is essential for media that report independently. “As part of press freedom, the protection of sources, which is of vital importance for independent media, is particularly indispensable. That is why we will use every legal means available to defend ourselves,” they said in a statement.

Mika Beuster, chairman of the German Journalists’ Association (DJV), criticized the authorities’ approach. “At the start of Hamburg Press Freedom Week, the attitude shown by the authorities raises serious questions about the protection of journalistic work,” he said. Beuster added that journalistic conversations must not be turned into tools for criminal investigations.

Reporters Without Borders called the move a serious attack on press freedom. The trade union known as Ver.di demanded the immediate return of the seized material, saying research material is not a depot for evidence for the judiciary and that such coercion undermines editorial secrecy.

Alleged kidnapping A court spokesperson said the recordings concern conversations done roughly two weeks after the alleged kidnapping of Christina Block’s two children from Denmark on New Year’s Eve 2023-2024. The interviews involved the children’s father, Stephan Hensel, his wife Astrid Have, and the children. The court argued the files could hold evidentiary value in the trial of Block and six co-defendants, potentially illuminating events not yet examined in the main hearing.

The long-running custody battle between restaurant chain heiress Block and her former husband Stephan Hensel became a criminal case after their two younger children were taken from Denmark on Jan. 1, 2024 by people linked to an Israeli firm and brought to Germany. Prosecutors allege Block ordered the operation. Her partner, former TV presenter Gerhard Delling, is accused of aiding the offense. Block has denied the charges.

During the investigations, prosecutors also examined August Hanning, formerly head of Germany’s foreign intelligence service, the BND, over alleged involvement in the kidnapping.

Thousands of filed seized In a recent television interview, Hanning rejected any role in the alleged kidnapping or related accusations. He said that, as a legal expert, he had given only advisory support and had advised Block in 2022 on legal options under international custody rules. He insisted he had no knowledge of later operations and described the Hamburg investigation as baseless.

About 2,000 confidential BND files seized during searches of Hanning’s premises in September 2025 led to a separate inquiry and his arrest. He was taken into custody this Oct. 7. Federal prosecutors accuse Hanning of obtaining and using the classified documents in his private consulting work, including for a foreign intelligence service, and of maintaining intensive contact with another foreign intelligence official. They charged him with espionage, researching state secrets, and attempted treason. His lawyer rejected the accusations, saying Hanning is being unjustly prosecuted.