Bavarian top court rules state spy agency can monitor AfD
Bavaria's regional domestic intelligence agency can monitor the right-wing populist AfD, the state's top court has ruled. Several states are trying to implement similar steps
Bavaria's regional domestic intelligence agency can monitor the right-wing populist AfD, the state's top court has ruled. Several states are trying to implement similar steps, with the opposition party challenging it. The German state of Bavaria's highest court of administration ruled on Wednesday that the state's domestic intelligence agency (or Verfassungsschutz in German) can continue to surveil the Alternative for Germany (AfD) political party. The AfD had sought a decision forbidding the surveillance, losing in lower courts and taking it to the last chance to appeal at the state level.
What else do we know about the ruling? The Munich court said Wednesday's decision was no longer subject to appeal. It said that the queries raised by the AfD had already been addressed in prior rulings and that the objections therefore did not stand. The plan to monitor the party had first been announced in 2022 and the initial legal challenge was dismissed in 2024.
Several states have launched similar bids to observe the party or some of its members on suspsicions of seeking to undermine the constitutional order in Germany. Typically this is related to the resrictive rules on far-right politics adopted after World War II in response to the former Nazi government. The party tends to try to resist the measures, arguing that the step is not justified.
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