October 2026 Rulings: Disarming Updates from Saxony-Anhalt & Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
Volksverpetzer
New rulings address the revocation of gun licenses for AfD members, illegal possession of weapons and explosives, an election poster imitating the Hitler salute, and the monitoring of an AfD state branch. What limits does the rule of law impose on anti-democratic efforts—and what questions remain open?
In our judgments series, each month we examine a selection of new case law concerning right-wing extremism, antisemitism or racism, as well as the Querdenker and Reichsbürger milieus and other groups hostile to democracy in Germany. The dividing line between these often is not clear-cut. With the judgments series, in addition to informing readers, we primarily want to encourage them. Many judgments show that the rule of law in Germany does not simply allow enemies of democracy to go unpunished. However, some judgments also raise questions that we address here.
In September, among other things, we looked at the revocation of firearms permits for AfD members in Saxony-Anhalt. In October, among other things, we look at two judgments concerning the possession of weapons by enemies of the constitution.
1. No firearms ownership card and no hunting license for two AfD members in Saxony-Anhalt
Confirmed by the Higher Administrative Court of Saxony-Anhalt at the beginning of August, now with further consequences: The presumption under the rules that AfD members of the Saxony-Anhalt state association are legally unreliable with regard to weapons remains in place.
On August 7, 2026, the Higher Administrative Court of Saxony-Anhalt upheld the decision of the Magdeburg Administrative Court, which had dismissed the lawsuits brought by three men in March 2025, whose firearms permits had previously been revoked by the responsible police inspectorate. The three men were members of or supporters of the AfD. We reported:
Now, in October, two further cases were dealt with in expedited proceedings. The Higher Administrative Court of Saxony-Anhalt rejected the appeals of two AfD members. One member’s firearms ownership card had been revoked. The other member, a female hunter, lost her hunting license, which was declared invalid and confiscated. The two AfD members had already taken action against this before the Magdeburg Administrative Court and sought to ensure that the measures could not yet be implemented – without success. And now the OVG also rejected their application.
The two expedited proceedings have thus been concluded with final effect. However, proceedings on the merits may be pursued in order to examine constitutional questions.
In its reasoning, the OVG Saxony-Anhalt stated that there were no reasons in the case of the two applicants that would have justified deviating from the presumption under the rules of unreliability. Since the AfD Saxony-Anhalt pursues efforts hostile to the constitution, it is not necessary to prove any “additional misconduct involving weapons” by further AfD members in order to revoke their firearms permits. The presumption under the rules therefore means that mere membership in the AfD Saxony-Anhalt is sufficient. However, there may be exceptions, such as “verifiable active opposition to misanthropic or anti-democratic tendencies or a definite, imminent withdrawal from the party,” as Legal Tribune Online writes.
The court further states that the presumption under the rules “does not link to the punishment or sanctioning of a particular political conviction, but rather to protecting the general public from the particular dangers of possessing weapons.”
2. Neo-Nazi sentenced to a fine for unauthorized possession of weapons and explosives
Weapons were also involved in this trial: Neo-Nazi Sven Krüger was sentenced for unauthorized possession of explosives and weapons to a fine of 140 daily rates of 50 euros each (7,000 euros in total). The Wismar Local Court imposed a sentence below that requested by the public prosecutor’s office. The latter had sought a prison sentence of 8 months (suspended) plus a probation condition (in the form of a monetary payment). The Wismar Local Court informed Volksverpetzer of this upon request.
Krüger already has 16 entries in the Federal Central Criminal Register, some of them for bodily harm. The Federal Central Criminal Register contains criminal convictions, certain decisions by administrative authorities, records concerning incapacity of guilt and special judicial findings.
Firearms and ammunition were found at the neo-Nazi’s premises during a raid in 2023. However, Krüger is not permitted to possess weapons. According to Endstation Rechts, the responsible judge justified the lenient sentence by stating that several points could not be clarified with certainty.
Krüger was formerly an NPD politician; since 2019 he has been a member of the Gägelow municipal council (Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania) for the voters’ association “Heimatliebe” (formerly the voters’ association “Heimat”).
And what happens to the weapons now? Endstation-Rechts offers an assessment: “The ammunition and weapons requiring a permit will be retained; the rest – including weapons or weapon parts converted into decorative and salute weapons – may then be handed back to Krüger once the judgment becomes final.”
The judgment is not yet final, as the Wismar Local Court confirmed to us upon request.
3. Now final: AfD politician Möller convicted for imitation of the Hitler salute on an election poster
We return to the AfD and once again examine the conviction of Brandenburg AfD state parliament member Wilko Möller. This became final in October, because the Federal Court of Justice dismissed his appeal on points of law against a corresponding judgment by the Frankfurt (Oder) Regional Court.
The background is the election campaign in Brandenburg in 2024. At the time, Möller had election posters put up showing a family. The poster’s headline read: “We protect your children.” The mother and father form a kind of roof with their arms, for which the father raises his right arm – an arm position that is “confusingly similar” to the Hitler salute. And this too can be punishable under Section 86a of the German Criminal Code:
We already reported in February on the Regional Court’s judgment:
At the time, Möller received a fine of 11,600 euros (100 daily rates of 116 euros) for using symbols of organizations unconstitutional. He did not accept this and lodged an appeal on points of law. “In doing so, the Federal Court of Justice does not review the judgment itself once again in full at the level of facts. Rather, what matters is whether the lower court made errors of law in its decision,” LTO writes. The Federal Court of Justice found no such errors of law and dismissed the appeal. The judgment is therefore final.
In the event of a conviction of more than 90 daily rates, the sentence is entered in the certificate of good conduct.
4. Provisionally confirmed by the court: The Office for the Protection of the Constitution was permitted to upgrade the classification of the AfD Lower Saxony
The expedited proceedings are thus concluded: As the Lüneburg Higher Administrative Court confirmed at the end of October, the Lower Saxony Office for the Protection of the Constitution was permitted to upgrade the state AfD association to an “observation subject of considerable significance.” In other federal states, this category corresponds to classification as “confirmed right-wing extremist,” the highest classification.
After the Office for the Protection of the Constitution made the upgrade public, the AfD took action against it. However, the Hanover Administrative Court rejected a corresponding application for interim relief. The OVG Lüneburg has now also rejected the appeal against this. The court assumes “with sufficient certainty”, among other things, that the state AfD association is directed against the principles of democracy and the rule of law and advocates an “ethnic-cultural understanding of the people.” Links to other right-wing extremist organizations were also evidence that the AfD in the federal state was pursuing efforts against the free democratic basic order. A decision in the proceedings on the merits is still pending.
In addition to Lower Saxony, the AfD state associations in Thuringia, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Brandenburg are also classified as “confirmed right-wing extremist.” The excuses for continuing not to examine an application to ban the AfD are becoming increasingly feeble.