Judicial Committee advises
Because of the Nazi saying: AfD parliamentary group leader Björn Höcke threatens to lift immunity
Björn Höcke, AfD parliamentary group leader, sits in the plenary hall of the Thuringian state parliament (archive picture from July 2021)
© Martin Schutt / dpa-Zentralbild / DPA
Björn Höcke, AfD parliamentary group leader in the state parliament of Thuringia, could lose his immunity. The reason: He is said to have ended a speech with a saying from the SA.
The Thuringian Judiciary Committee advises in a meeting on Wednesday about the lifting of the immunity of the Thuringian AfD parliamentary group leader Björn Höcke. A decision could be made in the committee after the current state parliament session, the German press agency learned from parliamentary groups. The “Spiegel” had previously reported on it. The occasion should be a speech by Höcke, who is also the head of the Thuringian AfD, in Saxony-Anhalt.
Höcke is said to have finished his speech with the SA slogan
The “Spiegel” reported that Höcke should have ended a speech in Merseburg with the sentence “Everything for Germany”. The Saxon-Anhalt Green leader Sebastian Striegel told the DPA news agency in Magdeburg on Wednesday that he had filed a criminal complaint against Höcke on June 8 for using symbols of unconstitutional organizations. Striegel referred to a Expert opinion of the Scientific Service of the Bundestag, in which the use of the phrase “Everything for Germany” in the context of a speech at a meeting was punishable because it was a slogan of the Nazi organization SA.
Immunity proceedings against AfD politicians
Striegel shared the “Spiegel” article on Twitter and wrote: “Criminal complaint on June 8, 2021, immunity proceedings at the end of November. The mills of #justice grind slowly. But they grind.” The Halle public prosecutor’s office confirmed the application to lift Höcke’s immunity. A spokesman did not want to give any details.
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.