Federal Prosecutor General: More than 600 proceedings in Karlsruhe

Hundreds of investigations against terrorists, spies and war criminals are being conducted in Karlsruhe. Now there are new details about the Federal Public Prosecutor’s proceedings.

The NSU series of murders, the attack on Breitscheidplatz in Berlin, the assassination attempt on Walter Lübcke, the cyber attack on the Bundestag or the crimes in Syrian torture prisons – the Attorney General in Karlsruhe is responsible in Germany for investigating particularly significant and serious crimes. It’s about terrorism, espionage and war crimes.

The Attorney General is currently conducting more than 620 such preliminary investigations. This emerges from a response by the federal government to a small question from the Green interior experts Irene Mihalic and Konstantin von Notz. The number is tending to decline compared to previous years; more than 1,500 proceedings were conducted in 2017 and 2018, and around 1,000 in 2019 and 2020.

Less religiously motivated terrorism

More than 260 of the current proceedings by the Karlsruhe prosecutors concern the area of ​​religiously motivated terrorism, especially so-called jihadism. The numbers in this category have recently declined, which, according to information from the judiciary, is also due to the fact that there are no longer so many emigration of Islamists to terror camps abroad and many Syria returnees have now been sentenced to prison terms.

Many proceedings against suspected jihadists are carried out directly by the public prosecutor general of the federal states or are handed over there by the federal prosecutor. At the state level, specialty public prosecutor’s offices for terrorism proceedings have been set up in recent years. For example, the investigation into a young Syrian who is believed to have been considering an attack on a synagogue in Hagen continues to be conducted by the public prosecutor’s office in Düsseldorf.

According to the Federal Government, 65 proceedings are currently being conducted by the Federal Prosecutor General in the area of ​​foreign extremism, including activities of the Kurdish terror group PKK, which has numerous supporters in Germany who are supposed to raise money.

46 Proceedings for right-wing terrorism …

46 preliminary proceedings are currently pending in Karlsruhe against alleged right-wing terrorists; they are directed against 90 suspects known by name. The majority of these are allegations of founding, membership or support for terrorist organizations, but also the preparation of assassinations or murder. Most recently, the Federal Prosecutor had indictments against the “Group S.” raised, a group of right-wing extremists, some of whom belonged to so-called vigilante groups and are said to have planned attacks on mosques. The accused deny that.

… 52 for left-wing extremist crimes

52 preliminary investigations are directed against suspected left-wing extremist criminals, many of whom are charged with founding or supporting terrorist or criminal organizations. In thirteen cases there are also allegations of murder or attempted murder.

There are currently several left-wing extremists on trial in Dresden who are held responsible for attacks and crimes against members of the right-wing extremist scene. According to the indictment, the student Lina E. from Leipzig is said to have been the ringleader of the group. The accused denies this. Another complex of the Federal Prosecutor’s investigation concerns a series of arson attacks on real estate in Thuringia that are used by right-wing extremists. The Office for the Protection of the Constitution recently warned of an increased willingness to use violence in both the left and the right-wing extremist scene.

More than a hundred proceedings under international law

In the area of ​​international criminal law, 113 proceedings are currently being carried out in Karlsruhe, including investigations into war crimes in Syria, Iraq and Gambia. In addition, the Federal Prosecutor General has also set up an observation process involving allegations of torture against the regime in Belarus. Berlin lawyers, who represent several victims of excessive violence, had previously filed criminal charges against the Belarusian dictator Alexandr Lukashenko.

Investigations also against spies and their helpers

The Attorney General is also investigating a considerable number of alleged spies and helpers from foreign secret services: 83 preliminary investigations are pending in this regard. It is about agent activity, treason or violations of the foreign trade law, which means above all business with countries such as Russia or Iran, which are prohibited due to sanctions.

References of politically motivated criminals to organized crime are not recorded by the Federal Public Prosecutor, according to the answer of the federal government to the parliamentary question of the Greens. The Green interior expert Irene Mihalic criticizes this fact. Because security authorities and science have long warned against such connections in right-wing extremist and Islamist milieus, so Mihalic.

The government announced on request that two former or active employees of the security authorities were affected by the current investigations by the Attorney General. However, it remains unclear against how many such persons have been investigated in the past.

“Right-wing extremist, racist and anti-Semitic incidents in German security authorities are an urgent problem,” said Mihalic, Member of the Green Party. There is an urgent need for “more transparency, a coordinated overall strategy and scientific research” into anti-constitutional tendencies within the security authorities.