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Cologne (dpa) - The former President of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Hans-Georg Maaßen, ends his work for the Höcker law firm in Cologne.
The reason for this is that Höcker represents the AfD in its lawsuit against the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the law firm said in a statement on its website.
Maassen may be considered as a witness in the proceedings.
“Even if I was not entrusted with this case by a lawyer and am not prevented from giving evidence as a witness, there is still the possibility that my work in the law firm could have a negative connotation and that any testimony as a witness would be questioned, even if I was also Lawyer cooperate with the plaintiff's office », Maaßen was quoted in the message from Höcker.
"In order to avert damage to everyone involved and to enable a fair trial, I have moved my departure three months earlier."
Maaßen had worked in an advisory capacity for Höcker since 2019, but according to the information he wanted to leave the firm in the spring anyway.
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Höcker is currently representing the AfD in legal proceedings against the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) before the Cologne Administrative Court.
Among other things, the AfD applied there to forbid the protection of the constitution from classifying it as a suspected case and to announce this publicly.
According to media reports, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution wanted to make a decision this week on how to deal with the AfD.
Accordingly, the AfD should be declared a suspected right-wing extremist case.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210126-99-171125 / 2
Communication from the law firm Höcker