The BfV, Germany’s domestic intelligence service, cannot spy on the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party under the authority they have to fight extremism, a court has said in an emergency injunction.
The decision by the Cologne Administrative Court was taken on Friday as it continues looking into a complaint by the AfD. The court agreed with the party that the information about the designation may affect its election outlook. The party was designated a suspected extremist organization by the BfV earlier this week.
The German constitution requires equal treatment of all political parties, so at least for now, the BfV can not treat AfD the way it did before information about its new status was reported by the media.
The decision to treat the AfD as a possible extremist group was reportedly taken by BfV President Thomas Haldenwang on February 25, but it only became public on Wednesday. The security agency has significant surveillance powers — like phone tapping, email interception and recruiting informants — against individuals and entities on the extremism list.
MPs and parliamentary candidates cannot be targeted this way. The court injunction prevents such activities against regular AfD members too, while the Cologne court reviews the case.
The court said it intervened because of the public nature of the allegations against the AfD and is yet to review the merit of their complaint. The party claims the BfV is being used to tarnish its reputation and make campaigning in regional and federal elections harder. The German states of Baden-Wuerttemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate are holding elections later this month, while more ballots are set to take place in Germany in June and September.
AfD officials hailed the injunction as a victory “for us, but also for the rule of law,” in the words of its co-leader Jorg Meuthen. Alice Weidel, who heads the party’s parliamentary faction, wondered if the “correction” would become as publicized as the initial revelation of the BfV’s move and reiterated that the AfD was targeted in a “mud-slinging battle.”
A similar case was won by the AfD in 2019, when the same court in Cologne ruled that the BfV had failed to justify designating the right-wing party a “test case” — a lesser-level classification that warrants collecting open-source materials, but not clandestine surveillance. The agency had acted “illegally and disproportionately” in making its suspicions known to the public, the court ruled.
Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!
The BfV, Germany’s domestic intelligence service, cannot spy on the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party under the authority they have to fight extremism, a court has said in an emergency injunction. Read Full Article at RT.com Read More
This is going to be a bitterly cold winter for a whole lot of people. In particular, things are likely to get really uncomfortable in Europe. Soaring energy prices and concern about potential shortages are causing anxiety all over the continent, and widespread protests have already started to take place. The cost of living has […]
“When elephants fight, it is the grass that gets trampled.” So warned Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte in his address to the UN General Assembly on September 22, 2020. He was referring to the consequences for East Asia of a conflict between the US and China. Fast forward to October 2, 2021, about one year later, and the first […]
Yes. I think they will. But not because Russia is running out of shells and rockets. Nope. I think China wants a chance to field test some of its weaponry and drones against a foe that shoots back in order to see how they perform in a combat environment. Firing artillery or surface-to-air missiles on […]
