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CRIME

Revenge or racism? Report raises questions about Munich shooter’s motives

Nearly one year after an 18-year-old shot and killed nine people at a Munich shopping centre, a new report sheds light on his motives. But its interpretation is disputed.

Revenge or racism? Report raises questions about Munich shooter's motives
A memorial set up for the victims of the Munich mass shooting. Photo: DPA

In response to an inquiry by the state Green Party, the Bavarian Interior and Justice Ministries on Thursday disclosed new details about the Munich shooter, David Sonboly.

According to the report, the 18-year-old had a “manifesto” on his computer, discovered by investigators after the shooting, as well as a file titled “I will now kill every German-Turk, regardless of who they are”.

This is the first time that officials have released excerpts from the manifesto, according to the Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ). Investigators had previously disclosed that Sonboly had been “obsessed” with mass killers like Norwegian convicted far-right terrorist Anders Breivik, and the attack took place five years to the day after Breivik's own 2011 attacks.

Most of the victims in the Munich shooting had immigrant backgrounds, mostly of Turkish or Albanian heritage.

SEE ALSO: Five things to know about guns in Germany

But whether the shooter decided to kill out of revenge against perceived bullies, or due to racist, right-wing ideology is disputed.

Sonboly, born in Munich to Iranian immigrants, had saved the manifesto about a year before the shooting, on July 24th 2015. Within it, he writes of seeking “vengeance” against those who wronged him, as well as about “foreign sub-humans” with mostly “Turkish-Balkan roots”.

He described his troubles at school and ponders what he did to make his classmates bully him. The manifesto goes on to describe some people as “cockroaches” as well as those he would like to “execute”.

The second file referencing killing German-Turks was saved on the date of the shooting, July 22nd 2016.

“The bullying will be paid back today,” he wrote. “The suffering that was inflicted on me will be handed back.”

Sonboly had developed a deep dislike of other young people with immigrant backgrounds, according to SZ, repeatedly writing racist statements online. A family member previously gave a witness statement explaining that he was “very proud” of his Persian heritage because he believed that the Aryan race had begun in Persia.

Aside from potentially racist motives for the shooting, the documents on Thursday raise questions about Sonboly’s possible right-wing extremist ideology, SZ reports.

“We have little information,” said local Green party politician Katharina Schulze, who submitted the inquiry.

“We owe it to the families to thoroughly clarify this crime.”

During a psychotherapy session once, he had reportedly given the “Hitler greeting”, scribbled a swastika onto a notepad, and shouted “Sieg Heil” – a common Nazi salute. But when another patient asked if he was a Nazi, he said “no”.

But the Bavarian criminal investigations office and public prosecutors concluded that the attack did not have a political motive.

There was no evidence that Sonboly had been involved in or had contact with known extreme right-wing groups.

Rather, the authorities state that the way Sonboly picked his victims was based on “a generalized concept of the enemy, stemming from his former bullies.”

Officials further state that since “childhood, he suffered from some major mental disorders.” The teasing by his classmates had exacerbated his negative attitude towards life that he already had due to his mental illness.

Sonboly had problems with anxiety, as well as with post-traumatic stress disorder. Investigators argue that his ill state of mind and racist hatred was based less on a political ideology than it was on personal suffering.

But Schulze says that this is only part of the truth, and she is now calling for the interior affairs committee of the state parliament to again consider the radical ideas of the shooter.

Schulze acknowledged that right-wing extremism was not the only motivation behind the attack, but said she believed it played an important role and that it had not yet been sufficiently examined.

“The classification of the crime is missing something,” she said.

Green party spokesman Holger Laschka criticized the lack of details revealed thus far about the case by investigators.

“Only after inquiries were little pieces of information given. With each inquiry a bit more,” he said.

“If we had not probed, we would not know any of this.”

CRIME

Nine face trial in Germany for alleged far-right coup plot

The first members of a far-right group that allegedly plotted to attack the German parliament and overthrow the government will go on trial in Stuttgart on Monday.

Nine face trial in Germany for alleged far-right coup plot

Nine suspected participants in the coup plot will take the stand in the first set of proceedings to open in the sprawling court case, split among three courts in three cities.

The suspects are accused of having participated in the “military arm” of the organisation led by the minor aristocrat and businessman Prince Heinrich XIII Reuss.

The alleged plot is the most high-profile recent case of far-right violence, which officials say has grown to become the biggest extremist threat in Germany.

The organisation led by Reuss was an eclectic mix of characters and included, among others, a former special forces soldier, a former far-right MP, an astrologer, and a well-known chef.

Reuss, along with other suspected senior members of the group, will face trial in the second of the three cases, in Frankfurt in late May.

The group aimed to install him as head of state after its planned takeover.

Heinrich XIII arrested at his home following a raid in 2022.

Heinrich XIII arrested at his home following a raid in 2022. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Boris Roessler

The alleged plotters espoused a mix of “conspiracy myths” drawn from the global QAnon movement and the German Reichsbûrger (Citizens of the Reich) scene, according to prosecutors.

The Reichsbürger movement includes right-wing extremists and gun enthusiasts who reject the legitimacy of the modern German republic.

Its followers generally believe in the continued existence of the pre-World War I German Reich, or empire, under a monarchy, and several groups have declared their own states.

Such Reichsbürger groups were driven by “hatred of our democracy”, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said in Berlin on Sunday.

“We will continue our tough approach until we have fully exposed and dismantled militant ‘Reichsbürger’ structures,” she added.

READ ALSO: Who was involved in the alleged plot to overthrow German democracy?

‘Treasonous undertaking’

According to investigators, Reuss’s group shared a belief that Germany was run by members of a “deep state” and that the country could be liberated with the help of a secret international alliance.

The nine men to stand trial in Stuttgart are accused by prosecutors of preparing a “treasonous undertaking” as part of the Reichsbürger plot.

As part of the group, they are alleged to have aimed to “forcibly eliminate the existing state order” and replace it with their own institutions.

The members of the military arm were tasked with establishing, supplying and recruiting new members for “territorial defence companies”, according to prosecutors.

Among the accused are a special forces soldier, identified only as Andreas M. in line with privacy laws, who is said to have used his access to scout out army barracks.

Others were allegedly responsible for the group’s IT systems or were tasked with liaising with the fictitious underground “alliance”, which they thought would rally to the plotters’ aid when the coup was launched.

The nine include Alexander Q., who is accused by federal prosecutors of acting as the group’s propagandist, spreading conspiracy theories via the Telegram messaging app.

Two of the defendants, Markus L. and Ralf S., are accused of weapons offences in addition to the charge of treason.

Markus L. is also accused of attempted murder for allegedly turning an assault rifle on police and injuring two officers during a raid at his address in March 2023.

Police swooped in to arrest most of the group in raids across Germany in December 2022 and the charges were brought at the end of last year.

Three-part trial 

Proceedings in Stuttgart are set to continue until early 2025.

In all, 26 people are accused in the huge case against the extremist network, with trials also set to open in Munich and Frankfurt.

Reuss will stand trial in Frankfurt from May 21st, alongside another ringleader, an ex-army officer identified as Ruediger v.P., and a former MP for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, Birgit Malsack-Winkemann.

The Reichsbürger group had allegedly organised a “council” to take charge after their planned putsch, with officials warning preparations were at an advanced stage.

The alleged plotters had resources amounting to 500,000 euros ($536,000) and a “massive arsenal of weapons”, according to federal prosecutors.

Long dismissed as malcontents and oddballs, believers in Reichsbuerger-type conspiracies have become increasingly radicalised in recent years and are seen as a growing security threat.

Earlier this month, police charged a new suspect in relation to another coup plot.

The plotters, frustrated with pandemic-era restrictions, planned to kidnap the German health minister, according to investigators.

Five other suspected co-conspirators in that plot went on trial in Koblenz last May.

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