bild

Wolfgang Roth, lawyer for the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, waits for the start of the trial at the Higher Administrative Court in Muenster, western Germany on March 12, 2024. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) classified Germany's far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party as a 'suspected extremist case' in 2021. Following a complaint by the AfD, the Cologne Administrative Court confirmed this classification as lawful in March 2022. The AfD has appealed against the ruling of the court of first instance, which is now being heard and decided by the Higher Administrative Court of North Rhine-Westphalia in Muenster. (Photo by Ina FASSBENDER / AFP) (KEYSTONE/AFP/INA FASSBENDER)