More than 100 people who work for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) parliamentary group or for AfD members of parliament are part of organizations that have been classified as right-wing extremist, according to a media report.
In a report published on Tuesday, regional broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR) relied on “internal lists of names” from the Bundestag and employee directories from the AfD parliamentary group.
The AfD parliamentary group sharply rejected the report.
According to BR, the employees include people who are mentioned by name in reports by the intelligence services, who hold leadership positions in organizations monitored by the services and who have appeared as speakers at the Institute for State Policy (IfS) in the eastern town of Schnellroda, which is classified as right-wing extremist.
According to the report, a large proportion of the more than 100 employees in question are members of the AfD youth organization, Junge Alternative (JA), which has been classified as right-wing extremist.
According to BR research, a total of more than 500 people work for the AfD parliamentary group or its parliamentary members. The parliamentary group has 78 members.
The intelligence services have classified both the AfD and its youth organization as suspected right-wing extremist groups.
The assessment was confirmed by a court in Cologne and subsequently appealed by the party. On Tuesday, the Higher Administrative Court in North Rhine-Westphalia started appeal proceedings in the case.
