German court strikes down AfD challenge to suspected extremist label

A top German court has rejected a complaint by the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) over an assessment by the domestic intelligence agency which classifies the party as a suspected right-wing extremist group, the court said on Tuesday.

This means a judgement by a regional administrative court which backed the classification last year is final.

Germany’s federal domestic intelligence agency, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, classified the AfD and its now disbanded youth wing as suspected extremist movements, which allowed the agency to monitor the party.

The AfD took legal action against the assessment, but the challenge was struck down by an administrative court in Cologne. A higher administrative court in Münster also rejected an appeal, finding sufficiently substantiated circumstances suggesting the AfD was striving to damage the free democratic basic order.

After the Münster court denied leave to appeal against its judgement, the AfD took the matter to the federal administrative court in Leipzig, which rejected the final challenge in the case.

The domestic intelligence agency has since upgraded its assessment and classified the AfD, which came second in February’s parliamentary elections, as a confirmed right-wing extremist group.

However, the classification published in early May has been suspended pending a ruling in another legal challenge brought by the party.

A number the party’s regional branches, meanwhile, are being monitored as confirmed right-wing extremist groups by state intelligence.