Man arrested after plotting to kill German politicians. The former chancellors were also targeted
Olaf Scholz and Angela Merkel, Photo: Action Press / Shutterstock Editorial / Profimedia
German authorities have arrested a man suspected of launching online calls to kill politicians, including former chancellors Angela Merkel and Olaf Scholz, judicial sources told AFP on Tuesday.
The suspect, a German-Polish man whose name was only partially released publicly as “Martin S,” was detained late Monday in the western German city of Dortmund, prosecutors said in a statement.
A source close to the investigation told AFP that the man acted alone, has links to a movement that promotes right-wing conspiracy theories. According to the source, the individual's target list included former German chancellors, Olaf Scholz and Angela Merkel.
The man is accused of having launched online calls for attacks on public figures and government officials since June, the Prosecutor's Office said.
Prosecutors say he had published instructions for making explosive devices and solicited donations in cryptocurrency, which were to be used as “rewards” for crimes.
According to the Prosecutor's Office, the man posted “death sentences pronounced by himself” as well as “sensitive personal data of potential victims”.
Now he is being investigated for committing the crimes of financing terrorism and incitement to violence aimed at endangering the state.
Spiegel Online reported that the 49-year-old suspect listed 20 targets, including judges and prosecutors, on a website he labeled “Politics of Assassination”, which was full of far-right content and conspiracy theories, some of which related to the coronavirus pandemic.
In recent years, German authorities have increasingly cracked down on a conspiratorial movement known as the “Reich Citizens”, or “Reichsbuerger”.
The movement, which challenges the legitimacy of the modern German republic, is now considered a security threat by German authorities.
In 2022, members of a group, which included a former MP and ex-soldiers, were arrested for a plot to attack parliament, overthrow the government and install Prince Heinrich XIII Reuss, an aristocrat and businessman, as head of state.
