Judgment in Saxony-Anhalt: No traineeship after the right-wing past

dpa | Can an applicant with an extremist past be denied a career in the judiciary, even if the activities occurred years ago? In Saxony-Anhalt, the Higher Administrative Court has decided that a temporary exclusion from legal preparatory service is possible if there are reasonable doubts about compliance with the constitution.

The preparatory service, also known as the traineeship, is a practical training phase after the first state examination. This involves working in courts, public prosecutors, law firms and administration. The phase ends with the second state examination, which qualifies you to work as a judge, public prosecutor or lawyer.

The specific case involved a man who was dismissed from the Bundeswehr in 2017 because he was said to have taken part in a meeting of former SS officers in Estonia and in events organized by a right-wing extremist organization. He is also said to have made anti-Semitic and racist comments, the decision states. Furthermore, he was an official of an effort that was classified as right-wing extremist by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution - meaning the former AfD youth organization Junge Alternative.

According to the court, the Federal Office of Administration also ordered a ban on the possession of weapons in 2023. The authorities justified this, among other things, with the assumption that the man was part of the Identitarian Movement.

The man denied several allegations, confessed in an affidavit to the free democratic basic order and wanted to use his complaint to ensure that he was admitted to the legal preparatory service. The Halle Administrative Court had already rejected this.