AfD leak reveals failed bid to expel future Bavarian constitutional judge
Monday 2nd November 2026 on 07:31 in
Bavaria
Internal AfD records show that the party pursued an expulsion case against Rüdiger Imgart in 2016 over alleged radical views, years before he became a constitutional judge in Bavaria. BR reports that the case collapsed and Imgart later regained his party rights.
In January 2016, the AfD district association of Oberbayern-Südwest asked the party’s state arbitration tribunal to expel Imgart. It warned that keeping him in the party risked opening the AfD to the far-right scene, according to an email included in the leak.
Documents from the internal proceedings show that Imgart was accused of making racist statements on Facebook, including using a racial slur for Black people, and of building parallel structures through so-called “comradeship evenings.” He was also accused of considering cooperation with the NPD.
The AfD’s state leadership, then led by Petr Bystron and Katrin Ebner-Steiner, did not seek to expel Imgart. Instead, it suspended his membership rights for 18 months, preventing him from voting in party decisions or standing for election. The party’s state arbitration tribunal, which hears internal disputes, upheld the sanction in April 2016.
In response to BR, Imgart rejected the allegations. He said the Facebook posts were, to his recollection, mostly not his, and denied pursuing an extremist agenda, creating parallel structures or seeking to open the party to the far-right or the NPD.
Imgart appealed, and the AfD’s federal arbitration tribunal overturned the sanctions nearly a year later. It ruled that the state-level application lacked a second signature required under party rules, making the sanctions invalid. The tribunal also said the specific allegations did not justify the penalties. The party was ordered to cover Imgart’s legal costs.
BR said it reviewed the emails and documents concerning Imgart and found them authentic. The leak, published by hackers in mid-October, contains more than 400,000 emails, documents and files from 2013 to 2026. The AfD declined to comment.