Germany: justice suspends surveillance of far-right AfD party
Alexander Gauland, leader of the AfD party (face) and Tino Chrupalla, vice-president of the party after a statement in Berlin, Wednesday March 3, 2021. AP - Michael Kappeler
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This is a snub to German domestic intelligence in its attempt to place the far-right Alternative for Germany party under surveillance.
Leaks on Wednesday revealed that the AfD, whose activities were deemed to be undermining democratic order, was under surveillance.
A court this Friday prohibited such measures but its substantive decision is still pending.
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With our correspondent in Berlin,
Pascal Thibaut
"A slap": the co-president of the AfD Tino Chrupalla welcomed the decision of the administrative court in Cologne.
Judges do not have to decide whether party surveillance is legal or not.
A substantive judgment has yet to decide this question.
The court had, pending its decision, asked the Office for the Protection of the Constitution not to make public this
surveillance
.
Formally, German domestic intelligence officials did not.
But leaks taken up by the German press on Wednesday were sanctioned by the judges in Cologne.
They believe that it calls into question in the middle of an election year the equality of opportunities between the parties.
The Office for the Protection of the Constitution has, in a file of almost 1000 pages, gathered information on the radicalization of the Alternative for Germany in which the most extremist wing is growing stronger .
The announcement of a party surveillance that allows eavesdropping and the use of snitches was expected.
The AfD wants to avoid it at all costs because it would damage the image of the movement and could dissuade less radical voters from voting for this party.
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Germany: the far-right AfD party placed under surveillance