Germany charges teens in alleged right-wing extremist group with attempted murder
BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s federal prosecutor brought charges Thursday against eight suspects for their alleged membership in a “right-wing extremist terrorist” group that allegedly aimed to destabilize the country’s democratic system by carrying out attacks on migrants and political opponents.
The prosecutors also charged the seven alleged members and one supporter of the group, some of them teenagers, of attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and grievous bodily harm.
Most of the youths were arrested in May, when they were accused of involvement with a group calling itself “Last Defense Wave.”
According to the federal prosecutor’s office, the group sees itself as the “final authority” for defending the “German nation.” It said the group was founded in May 2024 and that it planned or carried out arson and bomb attacks on asylum-seekers’ homes and left-wing institutions.
At the time, five suspects between 14 and 21 years old were arrested in the states of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Brandenburg, and Hesse. The police searched 13 properties there, as well as in Saxony and Thuringia. Three other suspects were already in custody at the time.
Due to the suspects’ age, some of them had to appear with their parents before the investigating judge at the federal court of justice in Karlsruhe. With the exception of one suspect, who was released in July, all others are in pretrial detention.
Federal prosecutors attribute three attacks and planned attacks to the group, including an arson attack on a cultural center in Altdöbern in the state of Brandenburg, an attempted but unsuccessful attack on an asylum-seekers’ home in Schmölln in Thuringia, and plans to attack an asylum-seekers’ accommodation in Senftenberg, also in Brandenburg.
Nobody was injured during the incidents. Several members of the group were also accused of robbing and beating individuals, causing significant injuries, the prosecutor’s statement said.
According to documents released in July, the group’s members planned to “trigger a race war in which a spiral of violence and counterviolence would be set in motion to preserve the ‘white race’ and ultimately eliminate liberal democracy,” German news agency dpa reported.
They are said to have posted racist and antisemitic messages on social media and glorified the “Third Reich” and National Socialism, according to dpa.