BERLIN, May 22 (Reuters) - German far-right AfD's top candidate in European elections Maximilian Krah will refrain from further campaign activities and will resign from the party's leadership board with immediate effect, ssplaywin the politician said in a statement on Wednesday.

This comes after he told the Italian newspaper La Repubblica last weekend that the SS, the Nazi's main paramilitary force, were "not all criminals".

Krah said in a statement that his comments "are being misused as a pretext to damage our party".

(Reporting by Andrey Sychev Editing by Madeline Chambers)