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Court maintains far-right AfD's 'suspected extremist' status

The AfD remains a suspected right-wing extremist in Germany
The AfD remains a suspected right-wing extremist in Germany Copyright  Kay Nietfeld/(c) Copyright 2024, dpa (www.dpa.de). Alle Rechte vorbehalten
Copyright Kay Nietfeld/(c) Copyright 2024, dpa (www.dpa.de). Alle Rechte vorbehalten
By Euronews with AP
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The ruling is a blow to the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party ahead of regional and European elections.

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The right-wing populist Alternative for Germany party lost a case in which it appealed against its classification as a suspected right-wing extremist party.  

The Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) has considered the AfD to be a suspected right-wing extremist organisation since 2021. 

In some federal states in eastern Germany, it has even been categorised as a "definitely" right-wing extremist.

At the federal level, the party has appealed against being labelled a suspected right-wing extremist organisation.

In 2022, the Administrative Court of Cologne ruled in favour of BfV, finding sufficient evidence of anti-constitutional tendencies within the AfD. This judgment has now been upheld by a court in Münster.

The court found that there was a sufficient legal basis for the designation, while stressing that the step doesn't inevitably lead to the party being designated a proven case of right-wing extremism.

The AfD is grappling with multiple scandals, including a trial against member Bjorn Hoecke for deliberately using a Nazi slogan at a rally and accusations of links to China after one of its members, Maximilian Krah, had his assistant arrested on suspicion of spying for China.

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