Former head of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution Maaßen has filed a lawsuit against his former employer. He accuses the Federal Office and Interior Minister Faeser of illegally observing him and collecting data about him.
Former head of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Hans-Georg Maaßen, says he is taking legal action against his former agency. Maaßen wrote in the online service X that he had filed a lawsuit with the Cologne Administrative Court against the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution. The Nius portal had previously reported on it. The Cologne Administrative Court has not yet been reached to confirm receipt of the lawsuit.
At the end of January it became known that the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) had stored data on its former president in the authority’s information system in the area of right-wing extremism. Maaßen accuses Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser of using the domestic secret service “to observe government opponents,” as he told the dpa news agency.
“Opponents of the government are not enemies of the constitution. In doing so, they are seriously violating their official duties and thus damaging liberal democracy,” said Maaßen. That’s why he filed a lawsuit. The SPD politician is “unbearable” as Interior Minister and must be “immediately removed.”
Maaßen: One is missing Legal basis for an observation
According to Maaßen, the statement of claim comprises 40 pages and 165 pages of appendices – excerpts are available to the dpa. This shows that Maaßen objects to the fact “that he was classified by the defendant/respondent as an object of observation or is currently being treated”. Accordingly, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution should also refrain from collecting, evaluating, collecting and storing information, personal data, information, news and documents on measures.
The document accuses the authority of illegal and unconstitutional actions. “Apparently, the BfV initially bases its assessment on the fact that a right-wing extremist mentioned the plaintiff/applicant in a letter; another person is said to have shared videos of the plaintiff/applicant on Facebook (…),” the complaint states. The argument goes that such third-party actions are irrelevant under constitutional protection law. There is no legal basis for observing or classifying Maaßen as an individual.
ValuesUnion wants to run in state elections
Maaßen is federal chairman of the WertUnion party, which was founded in mid-February and plans to run in the East German state elections in the fall.
Maaßen was President of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution from 2012 to 2018 and a former CDU member. Last year, the CDU initiated party expulsion proceedings against him. The action was also justified by the fact that Maaßen repeatedly used “language from the milieu of anti-Semites and conspiracy ideologists, including folkish expressions”. In January, Maaßen resigned from the CDU with a view to founding his own party.