Munich’s extremist hunters have to intervene 497 times – Munich

Their head office is on the fourth floor of a modern office building on Munich’s Karlstrasse. From there, the ten public prosecutors investigate militant opponents of the free and democratic basic order: suspected terrorists and extremists of all stripes, neo-Nazis, conspiracy ideologues and so-called Reich citizens who are suspected of having committed serious crimes, but also Islamists, left-wing extremists and supporters the banned Kurdish Workers’ Party PKK. And more and more often: Jew haters.

104 of a total of 497 investigations initiated by the Munich Central Office for Combating Extremism and Terrorism, or ZET for short, in Bavaria last year related to anti-Semitic crimes, a third more than in the previous year. A “frightening extent,” said Bavaria’s Justice Minister Georg Eisenreich on Wednesday when the figures were presented.

She fights against extremism and terrorism: Chief Public Prosecutor Gabriele Tilmann heads the Munich ZET.

(Photo: Catherine Hess)

But also a proof of how the ZET, which was created six years ago, works. You want to be more than a law enforcement agency, explains senior public prosecutor Gabriele Tilmann, head of the extremist hunters. For them, the ZET is the “competence center for state protection” of the Bavarian judiciary. The nation’s first hate speech officer in the judiciary is also based there, public prosecutor Teresa Ott. And senior public prosecutor Andreas Franck, who is responsible throughout Bavaria for the prosecution of anti-Semitic crimes of particular importance.

The head of the authorities, Reinhard Röttle, makes it clear how important it is to prosecute criminally relevant hate postings on the Internet. For the Munich Attorney General, the brutalization of the language is the basis for the high level of violence, which he currently identifies in particular in the scene shaped by conspiracy ideology – “up to and including kidnapping and coup plans”.

How the work of the ZET thwarts putsch plans

The fact that such plans were apparently uncovered in early December during the largest raid in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany – there were also searches in Munich – is not least thanks to the investigators of the ZET. A search near Bayreuth and the subsequent surveillance of a former KSK soldier revealed evidence of a network of Reich citizens, right-wing extremists and former members of the Bundeswehr who, according to the federal prosecutor, are said to have planned a violent coup. A former colonel active in Munich is also said to have been involved.

According to Röttle, the pandemic and the Russian war of aggression, the climate crisis and rising energy prices have resulted in a “dynamic situation” in recent years. According to the Munich Attorney General, some conspiracy ideologues – Röttle speaks of “lateral thinkers” – use this “unfortunate mixture” to try to “discredit all state action”. A pioneer of the scene, the QAnon propagandist Oliver Janich from Munich, recently received a penalty order from ZET for hate speech, public incitement to commit crimes and their approval in his self-imposed exile in the Philippines. He had publicly advocated the murder of politicians.

Weapons of war for German right-wing extremists

In the press room of the Attorney General’s Office there are weapons on a table, evidence from a ZET investigation. They are exemplary for the work of the extremist hunters – but also for the difficulties that are associated with it. According to Tilmann, ZET conducts “structural investigations” in many cases. In other words, it is about uncovering and judicially dismantling extremist networks. Last year, this was achieved in the case of a former AfD member from the Munich district. The man is said to have smuggled weapons from the former Yugoslav civil war zones to Bavaria between 2016 and 2018. At the end of May, he was sentenced to four years and three months in prison by the Munich district court, which had not yet become final.

The smuggled goods were explosive – the customers were even more so. Almost all belong to the right-wing extremist or the “Reichsbürger” scene. Because initially there was a suspicion that a right-wing group might be armed, the ZET got involved. 17 accused were in the end in the indictment. Far too many for a courtroom. This is one of the reasons why numerous proceedings have been separated and are being heard at other courts. Also in Munich. Some processes have long been completed, others have not even started. Sometimes only the experts from the Munich ZET manage to keep an overview and to recognize suspected right-wing networks in the end.

source site