Verdict - Court: Office for the Protection of the Constitution may monitor AfD in Bavaria
The Bavarian Constitutional Protection Agency is allowed to monitor the AfD as a suspected right-wing extremist case. This was decided by the Administrative Court Munich. The Bavarian AfD's lawsuit against the observation was dismissed by the court as unfounded. In the urgent proceedings, the party had already lost in two instances before.
At the beginning of the hearing, AfD state chairman Stephan Protschka had announced that he did not expect a successful outcome of the lawsuit before the Administrative Court and had announced that the party would call further instances in case of rejection.
The Bavarian Constitutional Protection Agency had announced in 2022 that they would also monitor the party with intelligence services and make the results public. According to statements from Constitutional Protection officers, the use of undercover agents or interception of communications has so far been waived until a final judicial clarification.
From publicly accessible sources, the Constitutional Protection Agency has collected thousands of pages - including chat protocols and speech excerpts - which are said to prove the anti-constitutional orientation of the AfD and justify observation. The spectrum ranges from anti-foreigner and anti-Muslim statements to democratically hostile statements from AfD members and functionaries of the party.
The AfD website attempted to present the statements as outbursts of Individuals, with whom the party as a whole had nothing to do. The party had dealt with the offenses as an organization, expelling or disciplining some party members.
- The Munich Administrative Court upheld the Bavarian Constitutional Protection Agency's right to monitor the AfD, considering it a suspected case of right-wing extremism in Germany.
- In the course of these processes, the initial judgments from the Munich Administrative Court went against the AfD, leading to their decision to appeal further.
- The Munich Administrative Court, in its final judgment, dismissed the AfD's lawsuit against the surveillance, finding it without merit.
- The Munich Administrative Court, in its role as an administrative court in Bavaria, made a crucial decision in the ongoing protection of the constitution in Germany.
- Stephan Protschka, the state chairman of the AfD, anticipated an unfavorable outcome in the proceedings before the Munich Administrative Court.
- As a result of the Munich Administrative Court's decision, the AfD will continue to be under observation by the Bavarian Constitutional Protection Agency in Germany.
