As of: March 12, 2024, 12:34 p.m
By: Franziska Schwarz
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Is the classification of the AfD as a “suspected extremist case” legal?
There is now a lot at stake for the party before the Münster Higher Administrative Court.
Münster - It is a groundbreaking procedure because it concerns the classification of the AfD by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution.
The party had called for a postponement at the start on Tuesday (March 12th) - but the Senate of the Higher Administrative Court (OVG) in Münster (NRW) has already rejected this.
The AfD's lawyer justified his request as follows: It was not possible to respond to the approximately 4,200 pages of documents and 116 hours of video material submitted in January in such a short time, said lawyer Christian Conrad.
AfD before the OVG Münster – judgment with consequences expected
At its core, the process is about the question of whether the AfD as a whole party can be listed as a suspected right-wing extremist case.
In March 2022, the Cologne Administrative Court dismissed a lawsuit brought against it by the AfD in the first instance.
Classification as a suspected case would have far-reaching consequences for the AfD.
Then secret service means of observation could be used against them, such as surveillance and undercover agents.
The three appeal proceedings pending before the OVG also concern the classification of the AfD youth organization Junge Alternative (JA) and the now officially dissolved so-called “wing” as suspected cases - in the case of the wing also the classification as a “certain extremist” effort .
AfD proceedings before the OVG in Münster (NRW): View into the courtroom © Rüdiger Wölk/Imago
The AfD decision also sent a signal in the ban debate
After the AfD was first classified as a so-called test case in 2019, the entire party was upgraded to a suspected case of right-wing extremism in March 2021.
The focus is also on the expected decision because of its possible signal effect on the debate about banning the AfD.
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However, it is also likely to have consequences for the further action of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution.
According to a report in the
Süddeutsche Zeitung,
the Federal Office is already working on a report on a possible classification of the entire AfD as a “secure extremist effort”.
So far, the AfD state associations in Thuringia, Saxony-Anhalt and Saxony have been classified this way by the respective state constitutional protection agencies.
New state parliaments will be elected in Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg in autumn.
In the three countries, the AfD was recently in the lead in surveys - although there are now signs of a downturn in the surveys.
Two days were set aside for the oral hearing in Münster.
A verdict could be reached by Wednesday (March 13th) at the latest.
According to current research, the AfD is said to employ more than 100 people from the right-wing extremist spectrum in the Bundestag - also financed by taxpayers' money.
(AFP/dpa/frs)