“ZDF Magazine Royale”
After Nazi chats: Jan Böhmermann sheds light on police involvement in the NSU 2.0 case
In collaboration with “FragDenStaat”, “ZDF Magazine Royale” published the chat messages from the right-wing extremist police chat “itiotentreff” that were leaked in 2018.
© Jens Koch for ZDF
In the second part of his program on the police, Jan Böhmermann sheds light on the investigation into the threatening letters from the NSU 2.0 and, in this context, the connections to the Frankfurt police.
“What the hell does this have to do with satire?” asks oneself Jan Böhmermann at the end of his current broadcast. You can ask yourself the same question in front of the TV screen. Because what is discussed in the current issue of “ZDF Magazin Royale” and in the previous week’s is neither funny nor particularly entertaining. At the end of September it was still about the sometimes inciting Whatsapp chats from Hessian police officers, Böhmermann is now dealing with the NSU 2.0.
“ZDF Magazin Royale”: Jan Böhmermann and the right-wing abysses of the police
Review: In August 2018, the Frankfurt lawyer Seda Basar Yildiz received a threatening letter from NSU 2.0 in which her home address was mentioned and it was announced to her that her daughter would be murdered. More threatening letters followed for months, and Böhmermann himself also received one. “Well, he deserved it if he had made more jokes about the Greens,” he jokes smugly.
And he shows that the traces of the first threatening letter, the one to Yildiz, lead to the police station in Frankfurt am Main. Together with “FragDenStaat” Böhmermann got to the bottom of the matter. Because somehow the person writing the threatening letter had to get to the lawyer’s private address. To do this, they used a computer in the police station and the account of Miriam D., one of the police officers from the WhatsApp chats that Böhmermann had just shed light on. But things aren’t that simple after all. Because next to the computer there was a piece of paper with Miriam D.’s password – so she wasn’t the only one who could gain access. “Cyber security, especially important for the police,” Böhmermann jokes.
Another police officer who was part of the right-wing extremist chats comes into focus alongside Miriam D.: Johannes S., who has saved photos of himself in which he shows the Hitler salute and, according to Böhmermann, in his browser search “Yildiz Frankfurt ” had stood. Not the only search query about the lawyer. But neither Miriam D. nor Johannes S. were ultimately held accountable, explains Böhmermann. Instead, Alexander M., an unemployed IT expert, was held responsible for the threatening letters in court. Also for the first threatening fax sent to Yildiz in 2018. Böhmermann quotes that the judge had a “headache” over this decision.
Threatening letters from the NSU 2.0
In his broadcast, the satirist also recalled that the Frankfurt police were accused of manipulating evidence. “On the day the first precinct was searched, the police computer suddenly broke,” said the ZDF presenter. Johannes S.’s alibi could also not be correct, as the times of operation were apparently changed. The LKA was called in at that time. “The LKA! My policeman’s son’s heart beats faster for the first time in two shows. Finally Good Cops. Really good and independent investigators who can work unhindered,” says Böhmermann. He himself shows that this joy is only short-lived. The special investigator commissioned at the time was the previous director of the criminal directorate at the Frankfurt police headquarters. “It is a disempowerment of the LKA,” wrote the “FAZ” in 2020. The director of operations came to the conclusion that the suspicion of members of the police could not be confirmed. “I still have very deep trust in my colleagues,” said the special investigator. “Yeah, then it’ll probably be like this: end, end, Mickey Mouse,” comments Böhmermann.
There is no evidence as to how the alleged individual perpetrator Alexander M. was able to obtain the police data. It is assumed that he posed as a police officer, according to a “Spiegel” article in “ZDF Magazin Royale”.
After several inquiries with the public prosecutor’s office, Böhmermann and his satire team found out that Johannes S. was still being investigated – also because of the threatening letter from 2018. And that, even though Alexander M. was also convicted for it. “Unfortunately, our exciting case remains unsolved today,” reports Böhmermann. “We know that the NSU 2.0 started in the first precinct of the Frankfurt police. When someone there accessed the Frankfurt lawyer’s secret data, when officers were on shift who were active in the right-wing extremist ‘Itiotentreff’ chat,” he says urgent. The same thing happened in other police stations in the republic. “To this day, death threats signed with NSU 2.0 are being sent, while the alleged lone perpetrator Alexander M. remains in custody.”
In the end, many unanswered questions remain for Böhmermann. One – not entirely unimportant – “what the hell does all this have to do with satire?”
source: “ZDF Magazine Royale”
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