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Interior Ministry raids neo-Nazi group locations nationwide

The Interior Ministry staged raids on outposts of a right-wing extremist group in several German states on Tuesday morning, searching buildings and confiscating evidence.

Published: 7 September 2010 08:48 CEST

Interior Ministry raids neo-Nazi group locations nationwide

Photo: DPA

Beginning at 6 am, authorities stormed offices of the Hilfsorganisation für nationale politische Gefangene und deren Angehörige, or HNG, one of Germany’s largest far-right groups, the ministry said.

The group’s goal is working with imprisoned right-wing extremists to strengthen their views and motivate further criminal activity, the ministry suspects.

These prisoners are meant to be groomed for further “battle against the system,” it said.

“Today’s searches will show whether our suspicions are confirmed and the HNG is positioned against constitutional order in an aggressively violent manner,” Interior Ministry secretary Klaus-Dieter Fritsche said in Berlin.

“Our findings bring us nearer to the suspicion that the HNG’s main goal is to network and strengthen the mainly fragmented neo-Nazi scene beyond trench warfare,” he added.

The HNG was founded in 1979 and has an estimated 600 members, making it the largest such group in Germany.

Offices in the states of Rhineland-Palatinate, Baden- Württemberg, North Rhine-Westphalia, Berlin and Lower Saxony were included in the raids.

DAPD/ka

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Aide to German far-right MEP arrested on suspicion of spying for China

The man, named only as Jian G., stands accused of sharing information about negotiations at European Parliament with a Chinese intelligence service and of spying on Chinese opposition figures in Germany, federal prosecutors said in a statement.

On the website of the European Parliament, Jian Guo is listed as an accredited assistant to MEP Maximilian Krah, the far-right AfD party’s lead candidate in the forthcoming EU-wide elections.

He is a German national who has reportedly worked as an aide to Krah in Brussels since 2019.

The suspect “is an employee of a Chinese secret service”, prosecutors said.

“In January 2024, the accused repeatedly passed on information about negotiations and decisions in the European Parliament to his intelligence service client.

“He also spied on Chinese opposition members in Germany for the intelligence service.”

The suspect was arrested in the eastern German city of Dresden on Monday and his homes were searched, they added.

The accused lives in both Dresden and Brussels, according to broadcasters ARD, RBB and SWR, who broke the news about the arrest.

The AfD said the allegations were “very disturbing”.

“As we have no further information on the case, we must wait for further investigations by federal prosecutors,” party spokesman Michael Pfalzgraf said in a statement.

The case is likely to fuel concern in the West about aggressive Chinese espionage.

It comes after Germany on Monday arrested three German nationals suspected of spying for China by providing access to secret maritime technology.

READ ALSO: Germany arrests three suspected of spying for China

China’s embassy in Berlin “firmly” rejected the allegations, according to Chinese state-run news agency Xinhua.

According to German media, the two cases are not connected.

In Britain on Monday, two men were charged with handing over “articles, notes, documents or information” to China between 2021 and last year.

Police named the men as Christopher Berry, 32, and Christoper Cash, 29, who previously worked at the UK parliament as a researcher.

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