Decision in Karlsruhe
Federal Court of Justice rules: AfD politician and judge Maier must take early retirement
Ex-AfD member of the Bundestag Jens Maier in the Leipzig courtroom
© Uli Deck / DPA
AfD politician Jens Maier has to take early retirement. The Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe decided on Thursday that the former member of the Bundestag is no longer allowed to work as a judge.
The transfer of former AfD member of the Bundestag Jens Maier into early retirement as a judge remains in effect. The service court in Saxony made no legal errors in its decision, the federal service court at the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe said on Thursday. It rightly decided that the public’s trust in Maier and his administration was seriously impaired. (Af. RiZ (R) 1/23)
AfD politician Jens Maier worked as a judge until 2017
The 61-year-old Maier worked as a judge until 2017. In 2013 he joined the AfD and in 2017 he entered the Bundestag for the party. He was chairman of the now formally dissolved so-called wing of the AfD, which was classified as right-wing extremist by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution in 2020. After Maier was not re-elected to the Bundestag in 2021, he applied to return to the Saxon judicial service.
The state Ministry of Justice, in turn, requested his early retirement. The service court in Leipzig declared this admissible in December. It was based on various statements made by Maier outside the Bundestag and in social networks, which, among other things, dealt with dealing with Nazi crimes. Maier appealed against this decision, but was unsuccessful.