Legal significance of the AfD leaks: The analysis will be lengthy and laborious

The SPD member of the Bundestag Carmen Wegge wants to have the internal emails captured in a hacker attack on the AfD evaluated for a possible AfD ban procedure. The politician told the Augsburger Allgemeine Zeitung. So far, the evaluation is still at the very beginning.

If the leaks actually result in something incriminating for the AfD, the information could flow into a party ban process that has not yet been opened. This is the assumption of several law professors interviewed by the legal portal LTO. Despite the illegal procurement of the emails, there is probably no general ban on their use, since the state did not hack the AfD's email accounts itself. In the balance, the protection of the free democratic basic order takes precedence over the data protection interests of the AfD.

But do the approximately 420,000 leaked AfD emails actually provide evidence that supports an application for a ban?

When assessing the alleged content of the AfD leak, caution is advised initially, as at least three fake contents are already circulating that politicians from the Greens and the CDU have fallen for. It is possible that right-wing extremists are now deliberately spreading blatant falsifications of supposedly unconstitutional AfD emails in order to confuse and blunt the public, based on the principle of “flooding the zone with shit”.

The ten hacked email accounts also include the accounts of the AfD Federal Arbitration Court and the Arbitration Court of the North Rhine-Westphalia State Association. Accordingly, many more or less right-wing extremist incidents will become known. However, since in these cases there were disciplinary measures taken by the party, including a request for expulsion from the party, this could also support the AfD's claim that it is taking consistent action against right-wing extremists in its ranks. It is important to analyze exactly how proceedings ultimately end and how the arbitration courts justify their decision.

If there are any indications of criminal offenses, this would initially be a matter for the police (as long as the statute of limitations has not yet set in). If there is evidence of illegal handling of donations, the Bundestag administration responsible for this would have to intervene. Such information would only be relevant for party ban proceedings if it proves that the party is expressly directed against the rule of law, democracy or human dignity.

Individual incidents are not enough; it must be a behavior that shapes the party. So it depends on the position of an AfD official who made anti-constitutional statements, whether there was opposition and whether the party itself (credibly) distanced itself.

So it's not enough to filter out the most explosive events and statements from around 420,000 emails. Only then does the actual analysis work begin.