A neo-Nazi activist has been reinstated as an honorary judge in a court in the western German city of Bochum after being barred a week earlier by the state government.
The order to reinstate Peter Markert, issued by a labor court in nearby Hamm, is pending a final decision, expected within the next month or two by the same panel.
In their temporary order, the judges refused to endorse the decision by the state government of North Rhine-Westphalia to dismiss Markert on grounds that he is a neo-Nazi activist.
The labor minister of North Rhine-West-phalia, Hermann Heinemann, said Markert’s political activities make him unfit for the office.
Markert was nominated to the post two years ago. He was one of 14 candidates whose names were put forward by a trade union group linked with the National Democratic Party, a major neo-Nazi organization in Germany.
The Labor Ministry in Dusseldorf said Markert’s membership in the NPD was not known when he was nominated to the court.
But trade union activists said they had informed the ministry of this fact in advance.
The NPD has been for decades on the government list of extremist, right-wing organizations which pose a threat to the democratic system. But it has never been officially outlawed, not had it been declared unconstitutional.
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