A law firm that represented the populist AfD against Germany's domestic spy agency is now hiring that agency's ex-head. Hans-Georg Maassen lost his job amid allegations of improper dealings with the party.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/F. Gambarini
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The controversial former head of Germany's domestic intelligence agency (BfV), Hans-Georg Maassen, is joining a Cologne law firm that counts the far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD) among its clients, German media reported on Monday.
Maassen has, however, said that he will not take on cases involving the party, according to the reports by broadcasters WDR and NDR and the daily Süddeutsche Zeitung.
"I do not want to be accused of being the AfD's lawyer," he was quoted as saying.
The Cologne firm took successful legal action against the BfV in February of this year to prevent it from continuing to make public its classification of the AfD as a "case under surveillance" (Prüffall) for alleged unconstitutional activities. The court ruled, among other things, that the classification could deter potential voters.
The firm is run by Ralf Höcker, an expert on media law who is also the spokesman for the WerteUnion, an association of conservatives of which Maassen is also an active member. Although the WerteUnion takes as members only those who already belong to Angela Merkel's CDU/CSU conservative bloc, its youth branch JU or associated groups, it is not recognized by the CDU as a party organization.
According to Höcker, the AfD takes only third place among his firm's political clients after the CDU and the SPD.
The reports quoted Maassen as saying he would not take on cases "connected with the BfV," or represent the Left Party or the Greens.
"That would not be good for them or good for me," he was quoted as saying.
Germany's ex-spy chief Hans-Georg Maassen is no stranger to controversy. He has been accused of a number of improprieties throughout his career and is suspected by many of having sympathies with far-right ideology.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Kappeler
Shadowy figure
Hans-Georg Maassen, the former head of Germany's Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) — the domestic intelligence service — has often drawn fire for his remarks and actions.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/R. Hirschberger
Trouble in the Interior Ministry
Maassen gained notoriety in 2002 while working for the German Interior Ministry and arguing that Murat Kurnaz, a German resident held in the US prison at Guantanamo for five years before being released, could not return to Germany because his residency had lapsed. Herta Däubler-Gmelin, who was justice minister at the time, called Maassen's argument, "false, appalling and inhumane."
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/R. Schmidt
Vows to restore trust
In 2012, Maassen was tapped to lead Germany's top spy agency. He promised to restore faith in the BfV, which was embroiled in controversy over its entanglement in the right-wing extremist scene and his predecessor's decision to destroy files related to the neo-Nazi NSU murders.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/S. Pilick
First calls for firing
Maassen has been accused of having "a troubled relationship with basic democratic principles" for his pursuit of bloggers on grounds of treason and trying to suppress negative stories on the BfV. In January 2017, he told parliament reports the BfV had undercover agents in the Islamist scene connected to the Berlin Christmas market attack were false. Records showing it did became public in 2018.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/R. Hirschberger
Sympathies for the right?
Before Maassen made headlines by questioning the veracity of videos of right-wing protesters chasing foreigners through the streets of Chemnitz, he was under fire for advising right-wing populist party Alternative for Germany (AfD) on how to avoid scrutiny from his agency. He has also been accused of sharing confidential documents with the AfD before presenting them to the public.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/K. Nietfeld
One faithful friend ...
Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (r.) continued to support Maassen even after his controversial remarks over Chemnitz. Seehofer even took the ex-spy chief into the Interior Ministry in what was essentially a promotion. But that compromise has not been seen favorably by many in Germany, and failed to calm troubled waters within the ruling coalition over the affair.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/B.v. Jutrczenka
Forced out of office
Maassen was finally forced into retirement in 2018 after he spoke about "radical left-wing elements" in the Social Democratic Party (SPD), the junior partner in the ruling coalition, who had, he said, seized gladly upon his controversial remarks to provoke divisions in the government. He also criticized Germany's policies on refugees and security as "naive and leftist."
Image: Kay Nietfeld/dpa/picture-alliance
Campaigning for the Bundestag
The Christian Democrat Union in one district in the eastern German state of Thuringia chose the controversial former intelligence chief to run in this year's parliamentary election. Some 86% of party members in the small region voted in favor of Maassen becoming the party's directly-elected candidate on the ballot. The move means he has a shot at entering Germany's parliament in September.
