The party filed papers in a court in Cologne, where the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, known as the BfV, is headquartered.
The Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD) political party in Germany sued the country’s domestic intelligence service on May 5 for classifying it as a “right-wing extremist organization.”
The designation subjects the party, which came second in the national elections in February, to greater surveillance from state authorities.
The AfD initiated legal proceedings at an administrative court in the city of Cologne, where the domestic intelligence service has its headquarters.
A statement from joint leaders Tino Chrupalla and Alice Weidel said the lawsuit was sending a “clear message against the abuse of state power” and that the designation was designed to “suppress and marginalize the opposition.”
“We will not allow a politically instrumentalized authority to attempt to distort democratic competition and delegitimize millions of votes,” they said.
“This shameful action undermines the fundamental values of our democracy—and has no place in a constitutional state.”
A court spokesperson confirmed that the party had filed a lawsuit accompanied by an urgent motion, the DPA news agency reported.
The move by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution—the formal name of the domestic intelligence service—means its officials can now use informants and other tools such as audio and video recordings to monitor the party’s activities across Germany.
The office, known as the BfV, warned that the party posed a threat to the country’s democratic order, saying the AfD “disregards human dignity,” in particular by what it called “ongoing agitation” against refugees and migrants.
After having regarded the AfD as a suspected extremist movement since 2021, the BfV designated the populist party as “right-wing extremist” on May 2.
BfV said in a statement that AfD’s approach to ethnicity is “not compatible with the free democratic basic order.”
According to BfV’s statement, AfD does not consider German nationals with a migration background from Muslim-origin countries as equal members of the German people.
By Guy Birchall
