Germany’s far-right opposition AfD party said late Thursday (September 11, 2026) it would ask for criminal defamation charges against Chancellor Friedrich Merz after he accused the party of promoting “ethnic cleansing”.
Brander, the AfD lawmaker, called Mr. Outside of parliament, Germany’s laws around free speech have been the source of considerable controversy in recent years, with critics — including some within the AfD — contending that strict rules stifle expression.
“We have come to a decision to file a criminal complaint against Chancellor Friedrich Merz,” AfD MP Stephan Brandner said in a video posted to X, calling Mr. Merz’s remarks in parliament “reprehensible”. “The word ‘remigration’ is nothing other than a synonym for ethnic cleansing,” Mr. Merz said of the AfD’s flagship slogan. Merz’s comments “nonsense” and said it was “unacceptable for the head of the executive of our country to come up with such lies and slander”.
