scandal in Thuringia
Maaßen accuses Bodo Ramelow of left-wing extremism – the committee is aborted
Hans-Georg Maaßen (CDU) testified as a witness in a committee of inquiry into political violent crime in the Thuringian state parliament
© Martin Schutt / DPA
Hans-Georg-Maaßen was supposed to testify in a committee of inquiry in Thuringia on the subject of political violent crime. But the committee breaks off the survey because Maaßen calls the Prime Minister “left-wing extremist”.
The former head of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Hans-Georg Maaßen described Thuringia’s Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow and his party Die Linke as left-wing extremists in an investigative committee. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution was very concerned about left-wing extremism during his time as president of the authority, “since left-wing extremists ruled in this country with Bodo Ramelow and his party,” said Maaßen on Tuesday in a meeting of the investigative committee on political violent crime in the Thuringian state parliament. The committee then stopped questioning Maaßen. The committee agreed on this during a non-public consultation, said the chairman of the investigative committee, Raymond Walk (CDU).
Maaßen was President of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution between mid-2012 and autumn 2018. Ramelow was elected in 2014 as the first and so far only left-wing Prime Minister in Germany. Since then he has been head of government in Thuringia with a short interruption.
AfD invited Hans-Georg Maaßen as a witness
Maaßen also criticized the Thuringian Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Stephan Kramer. After the so-called National Socialist Underground (NSU) was exposed, the state Office for the Protection of the Constitution in Thuringia was in a below-average position compared to the rest of the country. “From my perspective, the whole thing was made worse by the fact that the management of the state agency for the protection of the constitution was transferred to Stephan Kramer, a person who does not have the necessary professional qualifications to lead a state agency,” said Maaßen.
The left-wing MP Katharina König-Preuss then accused Maaßen of discrediting the state government and Kramer. Ramelow had been observed by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution for years. However, the Federal Constitutional Court ruled that this was unconstitutional.
Dispute over Hans-Georg Maaßen
Right-wing sayings and Stasi spies: These politicians have already been banned from the CDU/CSU
The AfD made it clear that the decision to end the interrogation was made against their votes; the CDU abstained, according to dpa information. Maaßen was summoned to appear before the investigative committee at the request of the AfD. Maaßen’s legal counsel on the investigative committee justified the statements: It was an expression of opinion that was fact-based.