Extremism - AfD leadership: state association should remove Halemba from party
The AfD party leadership is distancing itself from its Bavarian member of parliament Daniel Halemba. The 22-year-old is accused of incitement of the people, among other things. According to a party spokesperson, the federal executive committee has asked the Bavarian AfD state executive committee to initiate expulsion proceedings against Halemba. In addition, the state association should also apply to the competent state arbitration court to immediately exclude him from exercising his membership rights.
"The decision goes even further than party expulsion proceedings," said party and parliamentary group leader Alice Weidel in Berlin. "Yesterday, the Bavarian state executive was asked to initiate expulsion proceedings against Mr. Halemba and to immediately revoke his membership rights." It will be seen how the Bavarian state executive will behave.
Internal investigations had been launched into the case, Weidel added. "And for us on the federal executive committee, it was unanimous and completely clear yesterday that Mr. Halemba cannot remain a member of the AfD."
The Federal Executive Board justified its decision with violations of the party's rules and regulations, which had led to the admission of members in breach of the party's statutes in the run-up to two constituency meetings for the state elections in Bavaria.
The party executive committee discussed the Halemba case yesterday evening in Berlin. The public prosecutor's office in Würzburg is investigating the MP for incitement of the people and the use of symbols of anti-constitutional organizations. The 22-year-old student, who last lived in Würzburg, rejects the accusations. Halemba initially refused to comment on the party executive's decision on Tuesday.
The state executive of the AfD in Bavaria initially did not wish to comment on the request from Berlin. When asked, its chairman Stephan Protschka merely stated that the topic was on the agenda for the state executive committee meeting on Thursday.
Bavaria's Minister President Markus Söder (CSU) called on the Bavarian AfD parliamentary group to expel Halemba at a state parliament meeting on Tuesday evening: "Otherwise you will be even worse."
Guest book confiscated
Last week, it became known that the Bavarian Office for the Protection of the Constitution has been monitoring the Teutonia Prag fraternity in Würzburg, to which Halemba belongs, since the beginning of December. This also applies to the AfD as a whole party in Bavaria.
According to the public prosecutor's office in Würzburg, a guest book was confiscated from the fraternity's house during a raid in September. It contained the entry "Sieg Heil", signed with Halemba's name. In the room occupied by the 22-year-old, a printout of an SS order issued by SS chief Heinrich Himmler in October 1939 with a so-called double sigrune was discovered.
"The activitas of the Teutonia Prag fraternity in Würzburg is an object of observation by the Bavarian State Office for the Protection of the Constitution," the Office for the Protection of the Constitution announced. There are sufficiently strong indications that the activities of the fraternity are directed against the free democratic basic order, it said.
The fraternity had stored propaganda material from the right-wing extremist Identitarian Movement on its premises. In doing so, it had emphatically supported the right-wing extremist efforts of this movement. In addition, right-wing extremist music had been played in the fraternity house.
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- Alice Weidel, the party and parliamentary group leader of the AfD, commented on the situation in Berlin, stating that the federal executive committee unanimously agreed that Daniel Halemba cannot remain a member of the AfD due to violations of party rules.
- The Bavarian AfD state executive had been asked by the federal executive committee to initiate expulsion proceedings against Halemba and revoke his membership rights immediately.
- The public prosecutor's office in Würzburg is investigating Halemba for incitement of the people and the use of symbols of anti-constitutional organizations.
- The state association of the AfD in Bavaria, led by chairman Stephan Protschka, has not yet commented on the request from Berlin, but the topic will be discussed at the state executive committee meeting on Thursday.
- Daniel Halemba, the accused member of parliament for the AfD in Bavaria, initially refused to comment on the party executive's decision, but later denied the accusations and claimed that the entry "Sieg Heil" and the SS order printout found in his room were not his.
- Markus Söder, the Minister President of Bavaria, called on the Bavarian AfD parliamentary group to expel Halemba at a state parliament meeting based on his extreme actions that go against the free democratic basic order.
- The Bavarian Office for the Protection of the Constitution has been monitoring the Teutonia Prag fraternity in Würzburg, to which Halemba belongs, and the AfD as a whole party in Bavaria, due to strong indications that the activities of the fraternity are directed against the free democratic basic order.
Source: www.stern.de
