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Can the Office for the Protection of the Constitution observe the AfD? court hearing begins
STORY: The administrative court in Cologne has been hearing complaints from the AfD since Tuesday about whether the party can be classified as a suspected right-wing extremist and observed nationwide by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. Court spokesman Michael Ott said on Tuesday in Cologne: “Today four lawsuits by the AfD and its youth organization Junge Alternative against the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution are being heard. The central question is whether the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution can classify the AfD as a so-called suspected case. The result would be that the Office for the Protection of the Constitution would be allowed to monitor the party, also under any other conditions, using intelligence tools. This would require the determination that there are sufficient factual indications that the party is pursuing anti-constitutional efforts or that there are anti-constitutional efforts within the party. ” AfD party leader Tino Chrupalla also came to Cologne and before the start of the hearing was expectant of a timely verdict. “All in all, it must also be clarified what an opposition is actually still allowed to say in this country, what can an opposition actually say in this country? What can be said? How far is freedom of expression from the Basic Law? So we will examine everything and that’s why I’m happy that the court will decide that today, here or maybe tomorrow, and that we’ll get a decision here too.” The background to the legal dispute is a decision by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution in early 2019 to classify the AfD as a test case. At the end of February 2019, the Cologne Administrative Court granted an urgent application by the AfD, which temporarily prohibited the Office for the Protection of the Constitution from monitoring. A final judgment from the court is expected on Tuesday or Wednesday.
The Administrative Court of Cologne is negotiating whether the Office for the Protection of the Constitution may monitor the AfD as a suspected right-wing extremist.