Eight members of German neo-Nazi group sentenced to jail
A German court on Tuesday found eight men from the right-wing extremist group “Revolution Chemnitz” guilty of membership in a terrorist organization and handed them jail terms ranging from two to five and a half years.
The group was accused of trying to subvert the German state by planning violent, armed attacks on foreigners, politicians and journalists – starting its “revolution” with a “symbolic act” in Berlin on Germany’s national day in October 2018.
The regional court in the eastern city of Dresden hit their ringleader with the longest jail sentence, finding him also guilty of founding the organization.
Five of the defendants were additionally sentenced for serious breaches of the peace and one for bodily harm.
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Prosecutors had requested jail sentences ranging from three to five and a half years, arguing that the defendants have “openly Nazi views.” The defence lawyers had called for acquittals or more lenient sentences, calling the terrorism allegations exaggerated.
The eight men are between 22 and 32 years old.
The group had formed in September 2018, at a time when the eastern city of Chemnitz was experiencing xenophobic demonstrations and riots after the violent death of a 35-year-old German national in an altercation with refugees.
Prosecutors said “Revolution Chemnitz” was created after the ringleader posted a kind of pamphlet in a chat on September 10. His seven co-defendants were asked to decide after reading it if they wanted to participate.
The defence lawyers did not dispute this, but argued that their clients did not take the text seriously or had not understood it correctly.
The document said that it was time not only to speak words, but take action, with “lefties, parasites, Merkel zombies, the media dictatorship and their slaves” to be targeted – including with weapons.
The National Socialist Underground, a neo-Nazi terrorist cell uncovered in 2011, would be a “kindergarten preschool group” in comparison, the document noted.
The group wanted to carry out an attempted coup, according to prosecutors.
On September 14, it conducted a so-called trial run in Chemnitz, which led to the charges of serious breach of peace. Refugees and a group of youths were attacked in that incident, one was beaten up.
The suspects were taken into custody before they could carry out any other crimes.
The trial unfolded in a special room of the Dresden court, with security measures in place. (dpa)
