Höcke and Urban present expert opinion against observation

The AfD leaders of Thuringia and Saxony, Björn Höcke and Jörg Urban, have intervened in the legal dispute with the Office for the Protection of the Constitution over the classification and observation of their party with an expert opinion. Specifically, the report refers to the way the Office for the Protection of the Constitution deals with AfD MPs in Thuringia and Saxony. However, Höcke also sees it as a contribution to the party as a whole in the ongoing legal dispute with the domestic intelligence service.

The paper by constitutional law expert Michael Elicker concludes that "all measures that interfere with the exercise of a mandate, including those of the domestic intelligence service, are prohibited". The argument is based on the so-called indemnity for members of parliament in the state constitutions of Thuringia and Saxony.

They state: MPs may at no time be prosecuted or otherwise held accountable outside the state parliament for votes or statements made in the exercise of their mandate. This does not apply to defamatory insults. According to the AfD report, the regulation, in conjunction with earlier rulings by the Federal Constitutional Court, also rules out observation by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution.

AfD state leaders and federal executive committee to discuss in the evening

Höcke said at the presentation of the paper in Berlin: "I assume that the federal level will integrate this report into its legal fight." According to his and Urban's statements, the AfD federal executive committee and the AfD state leaders will discuss the next steps in the legal dispute with the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution in Berlin this evening.

The latter had classified the federal AfD as a confirmed right-wing extremist party at the beginning of the month. The party is taking legal action against this. The domestic intelligence service has put the new classification on hold until a decision is made by the competent administrative court in Cologne on an urgent appeal by the party. The AfD will initially only be listed as a so-called suspected case and will continue to be monitored accordingly. In Saxony, Thuringia, Saxony-Anhalt and Brandenburg, the constitution protection authorities have classified the respective AfD state associations as confirmed right-wing extremist and are monitoring them.

Höcke spoke of "snooping by the constitution protection authorities" on opposition parties "that are completely peaceful", Urban spoke of an impairment of the free formation of opinion and stigmatization. The approval ratings for the AfD could be significantly higher without this, he said.