The Halle court considered it proven that Höcke used the slogan "Everything for Germany", knowing that it was a banned slogan of a Nazi paramilitary organization, the SA, linked to the rise to power of the genocidal dictator Adolf Hitler.

This is a decision on a specific rally in May 2021, as other situations in which Höcke used the same slogan or encouraged the audience to say it will have to be judged separately.

The prosecution had requested a six-month suspended prison sentence, while the defense had requested acquittal.

In court, Höcke said the prosecution was biased, arguing that freedom of speech in Germany is at risk.

Höcke leads the AfD list for the Thuringia regional elections, which will be held in September, in which the far-right group is the main favorite to win, according to polls.

Höcke is also the most representative figure of the party's most extremist wing.

A month before the European elections, the AfD suffered a new setback on Monday, after the courts authorized the secret services to keep the party under close surveillance for suspected extremism.

The court decision is another blow to this movement, already in the justice's sights for its alleged links with Russia and China.

The decision by the Münster court (northwest of the country) to reject an AfD request against its classification as "suspected of extremism" was praised by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

"Our democracy has the means to defend itself. Our rule of law protects our democracy also against internal threats," stressed the social democratic leader on his account on the social network X.

The party's youth organization, Junge Alternative, was placed on the same level as the AfD, according to the decision.

In the grounds for his decision, Judge Gerald Buck concluded that there was sufficient evidence to suspect that the AfD pursues aspirations linked to "contempt for human dignity" of foreigners and Muslims.

At least a significant part of the AfD intends to "grant German citizens of migrant origin only a legally devalued status," he stressed.

For their part, the AfD lawyers stated that the statements made by some of its members, collected by the secret services, should not be attributed to the party as a whole, which has about 45,000 members.

Created in 2013, this populist and anti-immigration party had 'tailwind' in the polls until the beginning of the year and expected to triumph in the European elections in June and in three regional elections in September in the east of the country (the former GDR), considered its stronghold.

But since then, the scandals have accumulated and its popularity has waned.

In mid-January, the participation of some of these members in a 'far-right' meeting to discuss a plan for the mass expulsion of foreigners or people of foreign origin from Germany was revealed.

Then, in April, an investigation was opened on suspicion of Russian and Chinese financing against its top candidate in the European elections, MEP Maximilian Krah, and one of his assistants in the European Parliament was arrested, suspected of being a Chinese agent.

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