At the Higher Administrative Court Muenster The AfD’s appeal process against the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution has begun because of the party’s classification as a suspected right-wing extremist case. The court rejected a request from the party to postpone the oral hearing at the start of the trial.
The party’s lawyer had previously requested more time to review the evidence. It was not possible to respond to the approximately 4,200 pages of documents and 116 hours of video material submitted in January in such a short time, said Christian Conrad.
The court also rejected requests to reject individual judges due to bias and to reject the entire Senate. The presiding judge Gerald Buck accused the AfD of abusing the law in the justification for the rejection. The party did not present any new arguments. The request was made across the board and obviously without any basis. Shortly afterwards, the party filed a motion to exclude the public because it wanted to quote from an official document that cannot be published. The Senate agreed to this. Spectators and press representatives had to leave the OVG.
The AfD lawyer also requested access to reports on the AfD from Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt as well as a current assessment of the entire party by the Federal Office that has not yet been published. The AfD had already unsuccessfully called for both of these in advance, as well as applications for bias against two of the five professional judges, which it repeated before the OVG.
Classification as a suspected right-wing extremist case
The core of the negotiation is the question of whether the AfD as a party as a whole can be listed by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution as a suspected right-wing extremist case. In March 2022, the administrative court in Cologne dismissed a lawsuit brought against it by the AfD in the first instance.
The 5th Senate of the OVG should now clarify whether the lower court’s ruling is legal according to the Federal Constitutional Protection Act. The three appeal proceedings pending before the OVG also concern the classification of the AfD youth organization
Young alternative (JA) and the so-called wing, which has now officially been dissolved.
Two days were set aside for the trial. A verdict could come on Wednesday.
The legal dispute between the AfD and the Federal Office for defense of Constitution based in Cologne has now been going on for several years. Classification as a suspected case would have far-reaching consequences for the AfD. Then secret service means of observation could be used against them, such as surveillance and undercover agents.
At the Higher Administrative Court Muenster The AfD’s appeal process against the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution has begun because of the party’s classification as a suspected right-wing extremist case. The court rejected a request from the party to postpone the oral hearing at the start of the trial.
The party’s lawyer had previously requested more time to review the evidence. It was not possible to respond to the approximately 4,200 pages of documents and 116 hours of video material submitted in January in such a short time, said Christian Conrad.