German justice minister condemns attacks on judges after asylum ruling

BERLIN: German Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig on Friday condemned “alarming” attacks on judges who earlier this week delivered a ruling challenging a key plank of the government´s immigration crackdown.

Hubig said in a statement together with the justice ministers of Germany´s federal states that “we condemn such attacks on the judicial system and on judges´ independence”. The Berlin judges´ association said on Wednesday that two of its members had been “defamed and threatened” after handing down their decision on Monday.

In that ruling, the judges found that the pushback of three Somali asylum seekers to Poland on May 9 had been illegal. Hubig, from the Social Democrat (SPD) party, said in the joint statement that attacks on judges´ independence “strike at the basic values of our constitution”.

“It is a key duty of free courts to determine whether the law is being respected,” the statement read. Straight after entering office early last month the government under conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz introduced a policy of refusing undocumented migrants -- including almost all asylum seekers -- entry at Germany´s borders. Nevertheless, Merz said that the government would continue the policy, a central part of his promised crackdown on immigration.