Bijan Moini, who leads the Freedom Rights Society (GFF) team responsible for a legal opinion on the unconstitutionality of the Alternative for Germany (AfD), has sharply criticized the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV). Speaking to Spiegel, Moini stated that the BfV’s assessment, which is supposed to prove that the AfD’s federal party is “certified right-wing extremist,” only focused on aspects of anti-Muslim sentiment and ethnocultural public understanding. He noted that the BfV report completely overlooked the oppression of political opponents, which was central to the GFF’s investigation.
Furthermore, he pointed out that while the BfV examined the AfD’s nationalistic leanings from an ideological standpoint, it failed to address what the party intends to do in areas like migration policy or in dealing with its designated “German ethnic Germans.” Additionally, the BfV did not include parliamentary proceedings nor did it address all aspects with full legal thoroughness.
According to Moini, parts of the BfV report likely stem from a different mandate, but ultimately, he deems it legally incomplete. In contrast, the GFF’s report provides a much more comprehensive picture.
This discussion follows a ruling by the Cologne Administrative Court in February, where the court largely granted an injunction requested by the AfD against the BfV. This ruling mandated that the agency cannot classify or treat the AfD as a certified right-wing extremist endeavor until the main case proceedings are concluded.
Moini explained that working on the GFF report has significantly altered his perspective on the AfD, stating that his concern for German democracy has understandably increased. His team is confident in its legal assessment regarding the AfD’s potential unconstitutionality following intense scrutiny.
When asked what advice he would give the AfD as a lawyer to move the party closer to the threshold of unconstitutionality, Moini cautioned that it would be extremely difficult. He asserted that merely having individual officials resign would not suffice; the party would need to distance itself from a relatively large number of its functionaries.
For context, the Freedom Rights Society (GFF) is a non-profit association founded in 2015, dedicated to promoting and enforcing fundamental and human rights, often utilizing strategic lawsuits involving representative claimants. The GFF informed that the report questioning the AfD’s constitutionality was financed exclusively through private donations. Legally, Article 21 of the Basic Law defines parties as unconstitutional if their goals or the conduct of their supporters aim to impair, abolish, or endanger the constitutional democratic order or the existence of the Federal Republic of Germany. The decision on unconstitutionality rests with the Federal Constitutional Court, which, however, can only act upon a review order initiated by the Bundestag, Bundesrat, or Federal Government.
