A couple of weeks ago German state intelligence announced that it would be instituting a surveillance program directed at the AfD (Alternative für Deutschland, Alternative for Germany), the only major party in Germany that opposes mass immigration and Islamization. State investigators believe that the party’s ideological positions may pose a danger to the constitution.

Now the AfD is launching a lawsuit against the state to stop the surveillance program. Many thanks to JLH for translating this article from Bild:

AfD Intends to Stop Scrutiny by Intelligence Service[1] January 26, 2019 AfD national party leaders Alexander Gauland and Jörg Meuthen intend to bring suit to defend the party against the initiation of surveillance by national intelligence. AfD intends to rush an appeal to court against the instituting of surveillance of the AfD by national intelligence as a “test case.” As announced by Leif-Erik Holm — AfD legislative leader in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania — at the convention in Lübtheen, this decision was made by the party leadership. This is what it is about: On January 15th, Security Chief Thomas Haldenwang announced a nationwide surveillance of the AfD by his agency. That made the party officially a “test case.” At the time, Haldenwang said: “As the early warning system for democracy, Constitutional Protection is duty-bound to become active when there are de facto indications that the attitude of a party or elements of a party are inimical to the constitutional order.” The impetus for this evaluation was a 442-page report in which 180 speeches of 50 AfD politicians were examined for constitution-hostile statements. Because this classified document was leaked to journalists, the party will lodge a criminal complaint. Furthermore, the party leadership decided to enter a disciplinary complaint against BfV chief Haldenwang.

Note: