AfD panel confirms exclusion of extremist from party

A party arbitration panel on Saturday upheld a decision by the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) to exclude former member Andreas Kalbitz over his alleged extremist views.

In a statement, the AfD announced that the judges had "confirmed the cancellation of Andreas Kalbitz's membership in the main proceedings, which had been decided by the Federal Executive Board in May …The annulment is valid."

In response, Kalbitz told the German Press Agency (DPA) the decision was "not really surprising."

The AfD had earlier been split over whether to exclude Kalbitz from the party.

Alleged ties to Neo-Nazis 

The national party leadership ousted Kalbitz on May 15 for not disclosing that he was allegedly a member of the now-banned Heimattreue Deutsche Jugend (HDJ) organization. The HDJ — which approximately translates to German Youth Faithful to the Homeland — was a right-wing extremist group with links to neo-Nazis and was reminiscent of the Hitler Youth.

Read more: Germany's AfD seeks 'moderate' path to attract 'middle-class' votes

Kalbitz denies such membership but said it was "not unlikely" that his name was on an old HDJ list.

However, a Berlin court earlier ruled that he had to be reinstated as a member because the expulsion went against German laws that require termination of membership to be decided by special party tribunals.

AfD leader Jörg Meuthen reiterated that Kalbitz has no future in the AfD.

"We are very sure of our legal position," Meuthen said during a break in the proceedings.

Kalbitz said that the decision was a "highly political matter."  "It's a proxy war, I'm just a figure," he told the DPA, adding that he would continue to fight in a civil court. "The question then is: Who is next?"

Key right-wing nationalist figure 

Alongside Thuringia's state party leader Björn Höcke, Kalbitz is considered to be the most important representative of the right-wing nationalist movement in the party.

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Despite being kicked out of the national party, the Brandenburg branch voted to keep Kalbitz as its regional chief. The decision caused a rift within the party and contributed to Germany's domestic intelligence agency putting the branch under surveillance.

The head of Germany's domestic intelligence agency (the Bundesverfassungsschutz) for Brandenburg state, Jörg Müller, said at the time that German intelligence believed there was "sufficiently important evidence" to indicate that the branch was "striving against the free democratic order." 

The state branch was "de facto being led by a right-wing extremist with no party affiliation," Müller said.

 mvb/rc (AFP, dpa)