Today the Higher Administrative Court of the Land North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW OVG) in Münster has announced its verdict in the appeal proceedings instituted by the party “Alternative für Deutschland“ and its youth organisation “Junge Alternative für Deutschland” (JA), which is as follows:

The NRW OVG has rejected the appeals filed by the “Alternative für Deutschland” (AfD) and the “Junge Alternative” (JA) (5 A 1218/22 and 5 A 1217/22) against the judgments of the Cologne Administrative Court (VG) of 8 March 2022 (13 K 326/21 and 13 K 208/20), which had found BfV’s classification of the party AfD and of its youth organisation as a “Verdachtsfall” (subject of extended investigation to verify a suspicion) as well as the publicising of this classification to be lawful.

Likewise, the NRW OVG has rejected AfD’s appeal (5 A 1216/22) against the judgment of the Cologne VG of 8 March 2022 (13 K 207/20) which had confirmed the lawfulness of the classification of the former AfD faction “Der Flügel” as a “Verdachtsfall” und later as a “gesichert extremistische Bestrebung” (activity with a proven extremist agenda) and of the publicising of this classification.

Thomas Haldenwang, BfV’s Director General, comments on the court’s decisions as follows:

“Today the NRW Higher Administrative Court has confirmed AfD’s classification as an activity with a suspected right-wing extremist agenda; the same is true for that of the ‘Junge Alternative’.

In the proceedings before the Cologne Administrative Court and before the NRW Higher Administrative Court, BfV had provided a large number of pieces of evidence to prove that there are, in AfD and its youth organisation, sufficiently weighty factual indications of activities directed against the free democratic basic order, which form the grounds for such a suspicion. This evidence includes, in particular, statements that are characterised by völkisch-race-based views or objectives as well as by xenophobia and Islamophobia and thus violate human dignity. But there are also positions that disparage the democratic order and are incompatible with the principle of democracy.

The verdict makes it clear: In our vigilant democracy, the domestic intelligence services in charge of protecting the constitution have the important role of an early warning system with regard to the development of activities directed against the free democratic basic order. We will continue to perform and fulfil this task.”

V. i. S. d. P.
Angela Pley, spokesperson
Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz
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