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Bjorn Höcke
Photo: Christian Schroedter / imago images / Christian Schroedter
The Thuringian Justice Committee has lifted the immunity of the AfD parliamentary group leader Björn Höcke.
A corresponding report from the German Press Agency was confirmed to SPIEGEL.
The background is a request from the Halle public prosecutor's office in the neighboring state of Saxony-Anhalt (read more here).
The Saxony-Anhalt Greens chairman Sebastian Striegel had filed a criminal complaint against Höcke.
The reason was a campaign speech by Höcke in Merseburg in May, which he ended with the words "Everything for Germany".
Striegel referred to a report by the Scientific Service of the Bundestag in which the use of the phrase "Everything for Germany" in a speech at a meeting was punishable because it was a slogan of the Nazi organization SA.
In his criminal complaint, Striegel wrote that Höcke had hardly made the sentence spontaneously: "The statement comes at the end of a thoroughly orchestrated speech by the representative of a party that is the object of observation of the constitutional protection in Thuringia," said Striegel.
"The reported speaker can be judged as a 'fascist' because this value judgment is based on a verifiable factual basis."
The SA slogan has already been used by AfD politicians.
The Saxon-Anhalt AfD deputy Kay-Uwe Ziegler was reported because of it.
In Brandenburg, a poster with the slogan caused outrage.
In both cases, the authors denied having known the historical background.
Höcke responded to the ad on Facebook: "I am not surprised that an anti-German Green reported me because of this passage - the self-hatred is wondrous."
The Thuringian AfD was classified in March by the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution as a secured extremist observation object.
The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution Thomas Haldenwang had also called Höcke a right-wing extremist.
as / dpa