Decisions in legal proceedings. - AfD's lawsuit against the constitutional protection report achieves victory.
The far-right political party, AfD, has successfully challenged the Hamburg Administrative Court regarding accusations of right-wing connections within the state branch. The legal battle was focused on two specific claims mentioned in the Hamburg Constitutional Protection Report 2020, according to a spokesperson from the German Press Agency. The first claim was that approximately 40 individuals from the state branch could be linked to a "right-wing" group, while the second assertion involved two members of an extremist group, the Identitarian Movement, holding positions as employees within the parliamentary faction.
On Wednesday, the court deemed both of these factual allegations illegal, the spokesperson confirmed. This judgment also affirmed an earlier decision made at the end of 2021.
Alexander Wolf, deputy of the AfD parliamentary group, described this day as a victory for democracy and the rule of law. "The verdict serves as a blow to the Constitutional Protection Agency, which has yet again been reprimanded by the court."
The Office for the Protection of the Constitution (LfV) had previously stated that the court's criticism solely targeted the specific factual allegations, not the professional conduct of the LfV, particularly the collection of evidence on the "right-wing" faction and the Identitarian Movement.
The AfD had sought the publication of a press release from the Constitutional Protection Agency regarding the court's ruling in a legal action. However, one of their demands was denied by the Administrative Court.
The judicial ruling should not have further repercussions. The latest Constitutional Protection Report is scheduled for release on Monday, and the previous controversial report from 2020 will then be accessible to the public, as only the last three reports are available.
