Helmut kohl biography book

The Higher Regional Court of Cologne on Tuesday banned further passages of a book containing revelations about late German chancellor Helmut Kohl.

The ruling is the latest twist in an ongoing legal dispute involving Kohl's second wife Maike Kohl-Richter and the politician's autobiographical ghostwriter Heribert Schwan.

What the ruling said

The court said it had established a duty of confidentiality between Kohl and Schwan. 

Witnesses such as Kohl's son Walter, who is on bad terms with Kohl-Richter, had said in previous proceedings that there had been no written confidentiality agreement with Schwan.

However, the court said it assumed that confidentiality was implied because Schwan had worked for Kohl.

It said this stretched not only to the reproduction of any statements made by Kohl but also to the author's own evaluations of the former chancellor.

Schwan told the DPA news agency he was disappointed Kohl: Genius of the Present : A Biography of Helmut Kohl COW