Germany charges neo-Nazis with conspiring to commit terrorism
Germany’s Supreme Public Prosecutor has indicted eight members of an extreme right-wing group called “Revolution Chemnitz” for preparing deadly attacks in the German capital that were meant to result in a situation similar to a civil war and eventually even the fall of the Government, according to German television station NDR, radio station WDR, and the daily Süddeutsche Zeitung, all of which carried the story last week. The group of neo-Nazis aged between 21 and 31 got together last year as part of extensive, sometimes violent protests in the eastern city of Chemnitz that followed the murder of a 35-year-old German man by two other men, one apparently from Iraq and one from Syria.
According to the prosecutor, the eight men created a terrorist group in mid-September and planned their attacks for 3 October, the day when all of Germany commemorates the reunification in 1990. The men were all arrested on 1 October, however.
They lived all over Saxony and planned the attacks in an online chat group called “Planning Revolution”, through which they sent each other photos of Adolf Hitler. The establisher of the group, Christian K., confessed during interrogation that the terrorist action in Berlin was to be performed in such way as to make it appear that left-wing extremists were behind it and was meant to lead to “something like a civil war, an uprising”.
The final aim of the group, which detectives say was counting on perpetrating other attacks, was the fall of the Government and the collapse of the democratic order of the Federal Republic. Investigators are not certain yet how concrete the plans were.
According to the prosecutor, however, the men did their best to acquire weapons. Five of those indicted had already undertaken an action in September 2018 that they said had been a “trial run” during which they intentionally assaulted people whom they considered either immigrants or left-wingers.
Some of those indicted confessed during interrogation that they had counted on their planned October action involving deadly attacks, while others claimed that they were just in the group because they were curious and had felt strange when the talk turned to weaponry. None of those who claimed that they never intended to commit violence ever left the chat room, however.
Six of those indicted remain in custody. The prosecutor said they are leading representatives of the hooligan and neo-Nazi scene in the Chemnitz area.
