In a blow to the right-wing AfD party, a German court has sided with Germany’s internal intelligence service and said the agency was justified in its decision to classify the party as a “suspicious entity.”
The decision on Tuesday rejects the AfD’s lawsuit against Germany’s Office for Protection of the Constitution, whose tasks include monitoring extremist groups within Germany.
Labeling the AfD as suspicious allows the agency to use intelligence-gathering tools, such as informants, in order to keep tabs on the party. In practice, though, there are additional legal disputes to solve before such tools can be implemented.
What did the court find?
The AfD has repeatedly decried Germany’s state officials and media for painting them as extremists, especially the entire party, which was first labeled as a suspicious entity in its entirety around one year ago.
However, the court found that members of the right-wing AfD party demonstrated “sufficient factual indications” of anti-constitutional tendencies. The judges focused on AfD’s controversial “Wing” (Flügel) faction, which was officially disbanded two years ago, saying that its leaders still wielded considerable influence in the AfD. It also pointed to the party’s youth organization, JA, and its activities.
The court found that for both of these groups, an understanding of the German nationality rooted in ethnicity was a primary political goal. This is a belief that Germans “must be preserved in their ethnic condition and ‘foreigners’ should be excluded as much as possible,” the court found, while also pointing to “xenophobic agitation.” It said that such ideas were contrary to Germany’s constitutional definition.
At the same time, the court partially recognized two of the party’s claims, saying there was not enough evidence for the agency to say that the faction was an “assuredly extremist endeavor” and that it was unclear if the Wing had 7,000 members, as claimed by the intelligence service.
How will the AfD react?
The court’s decision can be appealed, and the party signaled it would look into legal remedies.
Commenting on the ruling, one of the AfD’s co-leaders, Tino Chrupalla, said he was surprised by the court’s stance.
“We don’t share the court’s viewpoint,” he said. “We will wait for the court’s written explanation of the verdict and then decide if we will take further legal action.”
The AfD secured 10.3% of the vote in the parliamentary election last September, more than 2% less than in the previous election in 2017. The party has been beset by internal divisions, with one of its top leaders, Jörg Meuthen, quitting in January after saying it had slid too far to the right.
dj/msh (dpa, AFP, Reuters)
German intelligence agency allowed to investigate AfD, court rules
Source: Pinoy Pop News
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