Court in Munich:

Office for the Protection of the Constitution may monitor AfD in Bavaria

In May, the North Rhine-Westphalian Higher Administrative Court in Münster had already ruled that the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution could classify the AfD as a suspected right-wing extremist party and continue to monitor it.

(Bild: APA/AFP/STRINGER)

The observation of the AfD as a suspected right-wing extremist organization by the Bavarian Office for the Protection of the Constitution is legal in the opinion of the Administrative Court in Munich - a corresponding complaint was dismissed.

In a decision published on Monday, the Munich Administrative Court declared that the observation of the Bavarian AfD regional association by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution is lawful. Furthermore, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution is permitted to inform the public about this measure.

AfD complaint dismissed
The AfD's complaint was dismissed as unfounded, as there were numerous factual indications that justified the observation. The secret service had decided in June 2022 to monitor the AfD as a whole party and announced this publicly in September 2022. The Administrative Court ruled that both the observation and the information provided to the public were permissible at the time and still are today.

The AfD state association filed a lawsuit against the observation and also filed an urgent appeal. In April 2023, the administrative court dismissed this, and in September the Bavarian Administrative Court confirmed this decision, reports Der Spiegel.

The Administrative Court only criticized certain wording in the press release from the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, which gave the impression that the AfD was extremist overall. The Administrative Court has now ruled in the main proceedings.