The German Office for the Protection of the Constitution (Verfassungsschutz) may not call the largest opposition party in the German parliament “suspect” of extremism, the Cologne District Court ruled Friday.

The Gateway Pundit reported on the politically motivated witch hunt in an election year by Angela Merkel’s secret police.

The secret political police “may not term the plaintiff a “suspect”, surveil or monitor them, or make any public announcement to this effect”, the verdict read. Publicly denouncing a certain political party violates the principle of equal treatment, the Cologne court ruled, finding “indications that the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution violated its non-disclosure agreement, or did not ensure procedural information does not become public.”

AfD chairman Jörg Meuthen commented: “Avanti Dilettanti! Another complete mess-up for (Verfassungsschutz Director Thomas) Haldenwang’s amateur hour! A secret service that can’t keep a secret issues major pronouncements that are struck down in court less than 48 hours later. How long is Haldenwang going to hang on to his job?”

Alice Weidel, AfD co-chair in the Bundestag, commented: “This is a major setback for the Verfassungsschutz‘s dirty PR campaign. The propaganda onslaught against the AfD is now revealed to be nothing but mud slinging by the ruling parties. I wonder if the retraction will be as widely publicized as the announcement of the surveillance” of the AfD, Weidel wrote on Twitter.

Of course, CNN cheered the news that a right-leaning political party would be spied on by the German government.

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