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Neo-Nazi violence dropped in 2009

Police have registered a significant drop in right-wing extremist violence for 2009 compared to the previous year, daily Bild reported on Tuesday.

Published: 5 January 2010 09:00 CET

Neo-Nazi violence dropped in 2009

Photo: DPA

According to preliminary statistics from the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), if December 2009 statistics follow the trend of the year’s first 11 months, then it will have been the first time in six year there was a reduction in right-wing violent crime.

Up until the end of November, 624 right-wing extremist crimes were registered in Germany. Compared to 682 during this time in 2008, this means a reduction of 8.5 percent, the paper said.

Meanwhile the number of victims injured in such crimes fell by 14 percent from 713 to 614, Bild reported.

But the number of neo-Nazi related crimes rose overall by 0.35 percent with the inclusion of crimes such as incitement of the people, Hitler greetings and swastika graffiti.

Compared to right-wing offences, leftist and anarchist crimes spiked by some 49.4 percent in the first three quarters of 2009 alone, the paper said.

Germany raids properties in bribery probe aimed at AfD politician

The investigation targets Petr Bystron, the number-two candidate for the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in next month’s European Parliament elections, Der Spiegel news outlet reported.

Police, and prosecutors in Munich, confirmed on Thursday they were conducting “a preliminary investigation against a member of the German Bundestag on the initial suspicion of bribery of elected officials and money laundering”, without giving a name.

Properties in Berlin, the southern state of Bavaria and the Spanish island of Mallorca were searched and evidence seized, they said in a statement.

About 70 police officers and 11 prosecutors were involved in the searches.

Last month, Bystron denied media reports that he was paid to spread pro-Russian views on a Moscow-financed news website, just one of several scandals that the extreme-right anti-immigration AfD is battling.

READ ALSO: How spying scandal has rocked troubled German far-right party

Bystron’s offices in the German parliament, the Bundestag, were searched after lawmakers voted to waive the immunity usually granted to MPs, his party said.

The allegations against Bystron surfaced in March when the Czech government revealed it had bust a Moscow-financed network that was using the Prague-based Voice of Europe news site to spread Russian propaganda across Europe.

Did AfD politicians receive Russian money?

Czech daily Denik N said some European politicians cooperating with the news site were paid from Russian funds, in some cases to fund their European Parliament election campaigns.

It singled out the AfD as being involved.

Denik N and Der Spiegel named Bystron and Maximilian Krah, the AfD’s top candidate for the European elections, as suspects in the case.

After the allegations emerged, Bystron said that he had “not accepted any money to advocate pro-Russian positions”.

Krah has denied receiving money for being interviewed by the site.

On Wednesday, the European Union agreed to impose a broadcast ban on the Voice of Europe, diplomats said.

The AfD’s popularity surged last year, when it capitalised on discontent in Germany at rising immigration and a weak economy, but it has dropped back in the face of recent scandals.

As well as the Russian propaganda allegations, the party has faced a Chinese spying controversy and accusations that it discussed the idea of mass deportations with extremists, prompting a wave of protests across Germany.

READ ALSO: Germany, Czech Republic accuse Russia of cyberattacks

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