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CRIME

New suspect detained in neo-Nazi terror case

Police have arrested a man suspected of involvement in the far-right terror cell case that has shocked Germany. The man is a suspected accomplice of the trio of neo-Nazis thought to have carried out a string of racist killings.

New suspect detained in neo-Nazi terror case
Image Source: DPA

The authorities said on Sunday that they had arrested 37-year-old Holger G. and searched his apartment near Hannover. Prosecutors are now investigating whether he had any part in the crimes alleged to have been carried out by the terror cell, including the 2007 slaying of a policewoman and the killing of nine foreign-born food vendors and shop-owners from 2000 to 2006.

Federal prosecutors, who took over the case on Friday, had at first focused their attention on three neo-Nazis who had lived in an apartment in Zwickau, Saxony. The two male suspects killed themselves after a botched bank robbery last week and the third suspect, a woman, handed herself into police.

The man now detained by the authorities is alleged to have had been in contact with the other three since the late 1990s. He is thought to have given them his driving license and passport in 2007. He is also suspected of renting caravans for the group on several occasions.

Investigators have already linked the Zwickau trio to the so-called “döner kebab murders” and the policewoman’s killing after finding the guns used in the attacks at their apartment.

They also found DVDs in which the men reportedly claimed responsibility for the racist murders and said they were members of a far-right group called the “National Socialist Underground,” which they described as a “network of comrades with the basic principle of actions instead of words.”

In one 15-minute video, the men also announced that they intended to carry out further attacks.

Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger insisted on a speedy and complete investigation in to the series of killings.

“The information that we have so far creates a shocking image,” she said on Sunday.

She also called for a rigorous investigation into the dimensions of far-right networks and organizations in Germany.

The Local/DPAD/DPA/smd

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FAR-RIGHT

Germany issues entry ban to Austrian far-right activist Sellner

Radical Austrian nationalist Martin Sellner has been banned from entering Germany, it emerged on Tuesday, days after he was deported from Switzerland.

Germany issues entry ban to Austrian far-right activist Sellner

Sellner, a leader of Austria’s white pride Identitarian Movement, posted a video of himself on X, formerly Twitter, reading out a letter he said was from the city of Potsdam.

A spokeswoman for the city authorities confirmed to AFP that an EU citizen had been served with a “ban on their freedom of movement in Germany”.

The person can no longer enter or stay in Germany “with immediate effect” and could be stopped by police or deported if they try to enter the country, the spokeswoman said, declining to name the individual for privacy reasons.

READ ALSO: Who is Austria’s far-right figurehead banned across Europe?

“We have to show that the state is not powerless and will use its legitimate means,” Mike Schubert, the mayor of Potsdam, said in a statement.

Sellner caused an uproar in Germany after allegedly discussing the Identitarian concept of “remigration” with members of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) at a meeting in Potsdam in November.

Reports of the meeting sparked a huge wave of protests against the AfD, with tens of thousands of Germans attending demonstrations across the country.

READ ALSO:

Swiss police said Sunday they had prevented a hundred-strong far-right gathering due to be addressed by Sellner, adding that he had been arrested and deported.

The Saturday meeting had been organised by the far-right Junge Tat group, known for its anti-immigration and anti-Islamic views.

The group is also a proponent of the far-right white nationalist Great Replacement conspiracy theory espoused by Sellner’s Identitarian Movement.

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