Far-right AfD to appeal German court ruling on extremist monitoring

The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party plans to appeal a court ruling that the intelligence services can classify the party as a suspected extremist group.

"We will of course appeal to the next instance," said AfD federal board member Roman Reusch on Monday, according to a party statement.

Germany's intelligence services had classified both the party and its youth organization, Junge Alternative (JA), as suspected right-wing extremist groups. A higher regional court in Münster upheld this assessment in its ruling on appeal on Monday.

The court did not allow an appeal in its judgement. However, the AfD can lodge an appeal with the Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig.

AfD Vice Chairman Peter Boehringer criticized the "insufficient clarification of the facts" with regard to the proceedings.

"Not following up on hundreds of requests for evidence borders on a refusal to work, as in the previous instance, which was the main reason for the appeal."