AfD puts Helferich before the door
Matthias Helferich is considered a right-wing extremist within the AfD himself. The party leadership in North Rhine-Westphalia has had issues with the 35-year-old for a longer time. According to a media report, a AFD Disciplinary Court in Düsseldorf has ruled in favor of the North Rhine-Westphalia state leadership against Matthias Helferich.
The Dortmund Bundestag representative Matthias Helferich has been expelled from the AfD, according to a report. The AfD Disciplinary Court in Düsseldorf reportedly gave judgment in favor of the North Rhine-Westfalia state leadership against the 35-year-old. The Landesvorstand had reportedly requested the party expulsion at the end of May.
Helferich, who referred to himself as "the friendly face of NS" in a private Facebook chat in 2017, was elected to the Bundestag in 2021. He did not join the AfD parliamentary group and has been sitting as an independent member of parliament since then.
According to the court ruling reported in the "Stern" newspaper, Helferich is accused of linking the Instagram slogan "Raus mit den Viecher" with the term "Remigration". This shows an attitude that "dehumanizes migrants, who are obviously equated with pigs". Furthermore, the ruling mentions contacts with former Nazis and allegations against Helferich that he threatened party friends.
The 35-year-old allegedly created "threat scenarios", repeatedly and deliberately placed "missteps or supposed missteps of other party members", and did so "to put pressure", as quoted in the "Stern" newspaper from the ruling of the AfD Disciplinary Court in Düsseldorf. For example, he reportedly referred to an AfD woman from North Rhine-Westphalia as a former prostitute.
According to the "Stern" report, Helferich denied the allegations in the ruling and referred to the prohibition of limiting intraparty opinion-making. He can now file an appeal with the Federal Disciplinary Court of the AfD in Stuttgart regarding his party expulsion.
The expulsion of Matthias Helferich from the AfD was a result of his actions being deemed extremist by the party's Disciplinary Court in Düsseldorf. This decision was supported by the North Rhine-Westphalia state leadership, as Helferich's politics within the AfD had been a point of contention for them for some time.
