Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) is hitting back after the Diakonie charitable organisation of German Protestant churches said it wanted nothing to do with supporters of the party.
Beatrix von Storch, a lawyer and deputy leader of the right-wing populist AfD, revealed on Thursday that she is taking action against Diakonie President Rüdiger Schuch. Schuch had previously demonstrated his undemocratic credentials by warning that AfD voters—not even just party members—“can no longer count themselves as part of the church, because the AfD’s inhumane worldview contradicts the Christian view of humanity.”
Announcing her action against the organisation, which is one of Germany’s largest employers with around 627,000 employees, von Storch said that threatening to fire voters of a particular party would violate Section 108 of the German Criminal Code. This states:
Anyone who unlawfully coerces or prevents another person from voting or exercising their right to vote in a specific sense by force, by threat of serious harm, by abusing a professional or economic relationship of dependency or by other economic pressure, is punishable with a prison sentence of up to five years or a fine, in particularly serious cases with a prison sentence of one year to ten years.
Von Storch added that Schuch “deserves” prison time for attempting to shut out his political opponents.
Author and University of Zurich Master of Law Regula Heinzelmann said the action against Schuch was “very good,” adding that “dismissals because of political views are abusive.”
Diakonie has yet to respond to this legal barrier, which critics of the charity hope will make it reconsider employment terminations.
