German Judges Urge Legal Safeguards as Far-Right AfD Nears Regional Power

German judges and prosecutors have urged the federal government to tighten legal protections governing public prosecutors to prevent potential abuses of the legal system as the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) approaches regional government control. According to the Deutscher Richterbund (DRB), the official association of German judges, reforms are urgently needed to stop state governments from steering criminal investigations for partisan political purposes.

The concerns follow a resounding election win for the AfD in Saxony-Anhalt in early September, making it highly likely that the party will take control of a state government for the first time. Sections of the AfD are classified as a threat to the German constitutional democratic order by domestic intelligence agencies, sparking fears within the judicial system that an extremist-led government could pressure prosecutors to drop investigations against right-wing extremists.

"The top priority now is to prevent the misuse of public prosecutors' offices in Germany for partisan political purposes," DRB executive director Sven Rebehn stated. Rebehn noted that current laws permit state justice ministries to interfere directly in individual criminal proceedings, relying merely on a political tradition of self-restraint that could be abandoned at any time.

Unlike judicial systems in many other countries, state prosecutors in Germany operate within the executive branch under the authority of state or federal Interior Ministries, subject to parliamentary oversight. While constitutional lawyers view this structure as a democratic safeguard ensuring accountability, it also grants ministries the power to issue directives in specific cases. For example, ministries can instruct prosecutors to handle investigations in certain ways or exclude intelligence agency evidence from court proceedings to protect classified operations.

Legal experts hold varied views on how to address the vulnerability. Margarete Koppers, Berlin's state prosecutor, warned through a spokesperson that the rule of law is at risk when its rules are politically abused, citing historical precedents in European nations such as Poland and Hungary where populist leadership eroded judicial structures. Both Koppers and the DRB advocate for removing ministries' rights to issue directives entirely.

Other legal figures suggest alternative remedies. Hamburg-based criminal lawyer Gül Pinar, who has provided expert testimony in the Bundestag, argued that while reform is necessary, making state prosecutors completely independent is not the appropriate solution because the right to issue instructions stems from democratic principles. Instead, Pinar proposed introducing mandatory documentation for ministerial directives so that defense lawyers can examine whether government instructions are legally sound or exceed official authority.

Meanwhile, the federal government has resisted altering the existing statutory framework. The Federal Justice Ministry maintained that current laws provide sufficient safeguards by prohibiting unlawful directives and barring prosecutors from following them, while ensuring executive-branch accountability through parliamentary oversight.

The structural position of German prosecutors has also drawn international scrutiny. In 2019, the European Court of Justice cautioned that European arrest warrants could face complications regarding political influence because German state prosecutors lack judicial independence. In Germany, only judges possess the authority to issue arrest warrants, a system Pinar defended as offering stronger civil freedom protections compared to jurisdictions where the executive branch handles such detentions.