Jens Maier
Member of the Bundestag
In office
24 October 2017 – 26 October 2021
Personal details
Born (1962-02-10) 10 February 1962 (age 62)
NationalityGerman
Political partyAfD

Jens Maier (born 10 February 1962 in Bremen)[1] is a German judge and politician for Alternative for Germany. The Saxon Office for the Protection of the Constitution classifies him as a right-wing extremist. As of March 24, 2022, he is barred from the bench.[2]

Life

Before becoming a judge at the Landesgericht in Dresden, Maier studied law at the University of Tübingen and held various positions in public administration.[1]

He became a member of the Bundestag after the 2017 German federal election for Saxony.[3] He was a member of Der Flügel, the extremist wing of the Alternative for Germany.[4] This led to the Landesamt für Verfassungsschutz Sachsen classifying him as a far-right extremist.[4]

Maier lost his seat in the 2021 German federal election.[3] After leaving the Bundestag, Jens Maier applied in February 2022 to return as a judge in the civil service of the Saxon judiciary. Because of his radical right-wing activities, there was considerable public doubt that Maier, as a judge, would judge "without regard to the person".[5] The Saxon Minister of Justice Katja Meier (Alliance 90/The Greens) announced that there was a claim and that "Mr. Maier would be returned to the judicial service as a district judge at the Dippoldiswalde district court with effect from March 14, 2022". However, she also submitted an application for retirement under Section 31 Deutsches Richtergesetz (German judge law).[6] On March 24, 2022, the Landgericht Leipzig barred him from returning to the bench for the time being (until a decision is taken on the further application for retirement in the interests of justice) because "[i]t was obvious that Maier would conduct his office as an "AfD judge" and would thus no longer comply with the legal model of an independent and objective judge."[2]

References

  1. ^ a b "Deutscher Bundestag - Jens Maier". 6 October 2021. Archived from the original on 6 October 2021. Retrieved 19 October 2021.
  2. ^ a b "Jens Maier darf vorerst kein Richter sein" [Jens Maier is not allowed to be a judge for the time being]. Legal Tribune Online (in German). 25 March 2022. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  3. ^ a b "Wird AfD-Politiker Jens Maier wieder als Richter arbeiten?". www.mdr.de (in German). 28 September 2021. Retrieved 19 October 2021.
  4. ^ a b "AfD: Verfassungsschutz stuft Jens Maier als rechtsextrem ein". Der Spiegel (in German). 5 October 2020. ISSN 2195-1349. Retrieved 19 October 2021.
  5. ^ Welle (www.dw.com), Deutsche. "AfD-Politiker als Richter: Staatsfeind in Robe? | DW | 11.02.2022". DW.COM (in German). Retrieved 12 February 2022.
  6. ^ Locke, Stefan; Dresden. "AfD-Richter Maier: Ministerin will "kleinen Höcke" in den Ruhestand schicken". FAZ.NET (in German). ISSN 0174-4909. Retrieved 12 February 2022.


Categories