Overview

• The Higher Administrative Court in Kassel confirmed that the AfD’s Hesse branch may be classified as a right‑wing extremist Verdachtsfall and monitored by the state intelligence service.
• Judges cited factual indications including advocacy of an ethnic concept of the people, statements attacking the human dignity of foreigners—especially asylum seekers—blanket denigration of Muslims, and discriminatory unequal treatment of Germans with a migration background, noting signs the party seeks to erode trust in democratic representatives.
• The ruling upholds a 2023 Wiesbaden decision and cannot be appealed through ordinary remedies, though a constitutional complaint remains possible.
• Hesse’s domestic intelligence announced plans to use intelligence means in September 2022, and the AfD’s challenges failed in both instances.
• At the federal level, the BfV labeled the AfD “gesichert rechtsextremistisch” in May, but under a Stillhaltezusage it continues to treat the party as a Verdachtsfall pending separate litigation in Cologne.