Germany: Man arrested for darknet site targeting politicians

A German-Polish man has been arrested in the western German city of Dortmund on suspicion of having issued calls to attack politicians, and offering rewards for doing so, federal prosecutors said on Tuesday.

They said the man, identified only as Martin S. under German privacy laws, also published instructions on the darknet for manufacturing explosives, while calling for donations in cryptocurrency that were to be used as rewards for carrying out such attacks.

List of potential targets

The suspect, who prosecutors said was detained on Monday, is also alleged to have included a list with names and personal details of politicians and public figures on his platform, along with self-formulated death sentences.

Prosecutors alleged that the calls for attacks had been going on since at least June.

According to both the German DPA news agency and the news magazine Spiegel, the names of former German Chancellors Angela Merkel and Olaf Scholz were among the names on the list.

Spiegel said purported "criminal files" and "death sentences" against judges and state prosecutors were also found, along with content of a right-wing extremist and racist nature, some related to conspiracy theories.

Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt, when asked about the case at a previously scheduled news conference, said the calls had been made on a "a right-wing extremist platform."

The man, who has been accused of financing terrorism, instigating violence aimed at undermining the state and dangerous publication of personal details, is to come before the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe on Tuesday, the prosecutors said.

The court will decide on whether and how the man should be detained ahead of a likely trial.

Political violence in Germany

Germany has seen a spate of attacks on politicians in recent years, with many observers noting a roughening of political culture in the country, particularly amid the resurgence of far-right forces.

In February, a DW film crew was witness to such an attack when Green politician Yvonne Mosler was verbally and physically assaulted while hanging campaign posters in the eastern city of Dresden, on the same day that Social Democrat Franziska Giffey was hospitalized after being hit by a man in a Berlin library.

The killing of Christian Democrat state politician Walter Lübcke by a neo-Nazi in 2019 also shocked the country.