Court: Ministry's 2022 AfD announcement was unlawful

A German administrative court has ruled that the Hessian Interior Ministry unlawfully disclosed information in 2022 regarding the observation of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party by the domestic intelligence service. The ministry has now complied with a court order by issuing a press release acknowledging the illegality of its previous announcement. The statement specified that the public notification of the Hessian AfD's classification as a suspect case, subject to observation, was unlawful. This ruling comes after the same court had previously decided in early June that the Hessian AfD could indeed be classified as a right-wing extremist suspect case and monitored by the intelligence service. The party is legally contesting this classification. The court also noted that while the public disclosure in 2022 lacked a legal basis, a recently amended intelligence law now permits such actions.

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The public announcement of the classification, observation, treatment, examination, and/or designation of the Hessian state association of the AfD as an object of observation, particularly as a so-called 'suspect case,' was unlawful.