The Berlin district court has dismissed the lawsuit brought by former AfD right-wing extremist Andreas Kalbitz against his exclusion from the party. The 49-year-old former Brandenburg AfD boss had tried to get his membership revoked by the party leadership back as quickly as possible. But the controversial leader of the now dissolved so-called “wing” failed in the main proceedings.
The regional court ruled on Friday that the AfD does not have to reinstate its ex-top functionary. The lawsuit will be dismissed, the judges announced after a short hearing in the morning. According to the reasoning, Kalbitz never became a legal member of the party. Because the politician’s declaration of accession had been challenged by the party on the grounds of fraudulent misrepresentation.
Two years ago, the AfD federal board decided by a narrow majority to cancel Kalbitz’s AfD membership. The reason: Kalbitz is said to have concealed previous memberships in the Republicans and the now banned right-wing extremist “Heimattreue Deutsche Jugend” (HDJ) and the Republicans when he joined the party in 2013. Such memberships, however, violate the guidelines of the party. He could not have been admitted according to the rules of the party.
Kalbitz had previously had a steep career in the AfD and was even a member of the federal executive board when he was expelled. For several years, together with the Thuringian state leader Björn Höcke, he was one of the leaders of the extreme right-wing party current “Flugel”, which has since been officially dissolved and has been classified as right-wing extremist by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution.
The cancellation of Kalbitz’s membership triggered massive upheavals in the AfD two years ago. While the then party leader Jörg Meuthen, who has since left the AfD, pushed for the step, his co-chairman Tino Chrupalla and the honorary chairman and then head of the parliamentary group, Alexander Gauland, spoke out against it.
The exclusion in the party is still controversial. Above all, the extreme right-wing movement would like to see Kalbitz return. In Brandenburg, Kalbitz is still a member of the state parliament. Although he is no longer a member of the party, the AfD faction reinstated him after his expulsion.